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The Higher Ritualism 



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The Higher Ritualism 

bed in Independence Avenue Methodist 
! ( hnrch, Kanst • I It) , Mi isouri 

By 

Matthew Simpson Hughes, D. I). 

of tub Saint LOUII CONFBBI 



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CINCINNATI: JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 
NEW YORK: EATON AND MAINS 







7 


1 








COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY 
JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 



CONTENTS 



Chapter Page 

I. A Declaration ok INDEPENDENCE, 9 

II. The Ritualism of Oi t r Religion, 31 

III. The Fellowship of Christ's Suf- 

ferings, 55 

IV. The Mission of THE Little Child, 77 

V. Tine Remembrancer, 99 

VI. Higher Criticism and Human 

Documents, - - - - 121 

VII. The Failures of Christianity, - 145 

VIII. The Correlation of SPIRITUAL 

Forces, [68 



3To 2P£ j?attjcr 

THOMAS BAYLISS HUGHES, D. D. 

My Ideal and Inspiration 
As 

Man and Minister. 



I. 

A DECLARATION OF IXDKFEXDEXCE. 

"And Joint's disciples and the Pharisees were fast- 
ing; and they came and said unto him: Why 
do Johns disciples and the disciples of the Phari- 
sees fast, but Thy disciples fast not? And Jesus 
said unto them: Can the sons of the bridechajn- 
ber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 
As long as they have the bridegroom with them, 
they can not fast. But the days will come, when 
the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, 
and then they will fast in that day." — Mark ii, 
18-20. (R. V.) 

The events of record in this chapter mark the 
dawn of religious liberty. The narrative contains 
a declaration of independence on the part of Jesus, 
and an emancipation proclamation on behalf of His 
disciples. It is the beginning of the world's great- 
est religious revolution, and a prophecy of the final 
deliverance of the sons of God from all burden- 
some ritual and all priestly tyranny. 

9 



io Tin; HlGHEB RlTUAU 

The religious forces of the time were crystal- 
lized, or crystallizing, about three centers. The 
first center was Tradition, with the scribes and 
Pharisees as its guardians. The second was Ref- 
ormation, a movement led by John the Baptist, 
whose influence survived in the followers of the 
stern prophet of the wilderness. The third center, 

and least of all in point of numbers, was Revolu- 
tion, represented by Jesus and His little circle. By 
their nature such diverse elements could not abide 
in peace. In fact, Jesus and His disciples had al- 
ready departed from established customs in their 
manner of life. This non-conformity inflamed the 
partisan spirits of the old regime, gave opportunity 
to ready opposition, and inaugurated the "period of 
conflict" in our Lord's ministry. At the end of that 
conflict stood Calvary. 

The occasions of the waxing antagonism of the 
religious leaders are not far to seek. The incidents 
of this chapter furnish US information by which we 
can interpret existing conditions. The ground- 
complaint were three, at least, in number. There 
was, first, the extraordinary claims of Christ, who 
had forgiven sin when He healed the paralytic; 
there was His unconventional action in exalting 
Matthew, the tax-gatherer, to discipleship ; and 



A PlAl.AK.Vl'InX Of iNDl.ri.NDl.N^ \.. II 

there was the revolutionary practice of our Loffd 
ami His disciples in the matters «>f feftting and Sal) 
hath observance. As a result of the.se departures 
from accepted standards. His adversaries formu- 
lated three charges and urged them against Jesus — 
the charge of blasphemy, because He forgave sin ; 
the charge of evil associations, based on His re- 
ception of Matthew and His social treatment of 
publicans and sinners ; and the charge of non-con- 
formity, growing out of the neglect of fasting and 
offenses against prescribed methods of Sabbath ob- 
servance. 

This passage, selected for our study, stands at 
the parting of the ways. The record is silent ; but, 
no doubt, the incident described followed hot de- 
hates on subjects of belief and practice among the 
adherents of the three circles. Now appeal is made 
to the court of last resort. A judicial opinion is 
demanded and given. From this time forward the 
issue is joined. The conference of our text is but 
the preliminary skirmish of the long war for re- 
ligious freedom. The questioners are "John'?S (HS " 
ciples and the Pharisees. " A strange alliance ! Re- 
ligious controversy as well as politics, makes 
strange bedfellows. These parties, so ditYerent in 
many respects, had this in common — they fasted. 



12 Tin: RlGHEB RlTUAUSM. 

They had this in common as against JeSUS and His 

disciples — who did not fast. A superficial knowl- 
edge of human nature can easily account for the 
combination. The question was: ''Why do John's 
disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, 
but Thy disciples fast not?" The interview, as a 
whole, thus brings to our notice a question, an 
answer, and some general principles, and these we 
shall consider in turn. 

It is obvious that the importance of the ques- 
tion to the minds of the delegation was m exact 
proportion to the value ascribed to fasting as a 
religious exercise among the Jews of the day. This 
would be true for the same reason that a sermon 
on "The Stations of the Holy Cross," or a study 
of "The Place of the Rosary in the Devotional 
Life," would make no appeal to a Protestant con- 
gregation. We make no use of these inventions in 
our system of religious culture. On the other hand, 
these mechanical appliances come to be regarded as 
integral parts of the life and practice of a devout 
Roman Catholic, and, therefore, any statement 
about them possesses for him an interest foreign to 
the Protestant mind. It is clear that the question 
and answer about fasting can not be appreciated at 
their full significance, unless the student of the pas- 



A 1 >] CLAB \ii- i.. 13 

knows something of the vital function 
cribed to this piece of religiosity in the formal re- 
:i of the period. 

It may be true, as we arc told, that fasting has in 

all ages ami among all peoples been practiced in 
times vi mourning, sorrow, and affliction. It may 
also be true that a basis for the observance can be 
found in human nature, which under such condi- 
tions suspends the cravings of hunger and refuses 
But all this only places in stronger contrast 
the part accorded fasting in the ritual of Judaism. 
It is certainly a fact, and a striking fact, that, in 
the history of the Old Testament, no examples of 
fasting occur before the time of Moses. It is more 
marvelous still, in view of subsequent developments, 
that only one regulation as to fasting was handed 
down by Moses. "The feasts of the Lord" have 
pre-eminence in the Levitical law. In all the Jew- 
ish Church year there was only one day of fasting 
and humiliation, and that was the great Atonement- 
day. Provision for that day of fasting is found in 
the injunction: "Howbeit on the tenth dav of this 
seventh month is the day of atonement ; and ye 
shall afflict your souls." But over against this one 
day of the year in the Jewish Church, the days of 

rejoicing in the calendar shone like stars in the sky. 



14 Till; HlGIIKK RlTL'AI.K-M. 

But, in spite of the qualified sanction given to 
fasting by Moses in the law, it had become a char- 
acteristic and Commanding element in the Jewish 
ritual. The exaggerated development of the prac- 
tice had its origin during the captivity. During 
that period of humiliation the Jews established four 
annual fasts, to be observed in the fourth, fifth, 
seventh, and tenth months. According to Jewish 
authorities these new fasts commemorated histor- 
ical calamities — such as the making of the golden 
calf, the decree that those who came out of Egypt 
should not enter Canaan, the destruction of the 
temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and similar mournful 
events. There was also the fast of Esther, kept in 
memory of the original, ordered by Esther w r hen 
slaughter threatened all the Jews of the Persian 
dominions. The number of annual fasts was grad- 
ually increased until they reached a total of no less 
than twenty-eight. Then, in addition to these stated 
seasons, occasional public fasts were proclaimed to 
express national humiliation on account of sin and 
disaster, to supplicate divine favor in behalf of some 
great enterprise, or to seek divine protection against 
some threatened danger. 

There was more to follow. Xot only had the 
Jews multiplied annual and occasional fasts, but 



A I Itil LAB \i LOW «'i 1 \i>i I i.. 15 

there had also grown up an dab a of pri- 

vate Easts as a regular pan of the current rdigioas 
worship. The traditional code of the rabbis pre- 
scribed Easting twice in the week. The I liar 
in cur Lord's tune observed these biweekly Easts. 
They fasted on Thursday, because on that day 
Mioses ascended Mount Sinai; and on Monday, be- 
cause On that day he returned to the camp. This 
wa> the boast of the Pharisee in the parable, when 
he prayed: "I fast twice in the week." These 
private and voluntary fasts were frequently carried 
to extreme lengths. Indeed, it is recorded of a 
Specially famous doctor that his face was always 
black with Easting. In brief, rabbinism magnified 
fasting until it became a species of slavery, a bond- 

toe heavy to be borne. 

But this is not all; nor is it the worst. The 
lit of superstition had been added to the phys- 
ical burden. Spiritual and even magical powers 
were ascribed to fasting. It was associated with 
prayer, or, with prayer and almsgiving, as a condi- 
tion of pardon of sins. It was a fond imagination 

that fasting as self-punishment and mortification 

would avert the anger of God. It was deemed the 
readiest means of turning aside drought, or pesti- 
lence, or national calamitv. Extraordinary in- 



16 Tin; I [iGHEB Rj 1 tai.i 

stances of its efficacy are related in Jewish legend. 
Of one Jewish saint it is declared that, by fasting, 
he was rendered \>rt><>i against the fires of Gehenna, 

of which a realistic demonstration was given 
when his body was gendered proof against ordinary 

fire. To this sad recital it must be added, that the 

Jew fasted to secure lucky dreams, to obtain inter- 
pretations of dreams, to avert the evil import of 
dreams, or to acquire something" eagerly desired. 
Let it be borne in mind that all this monstrous 
machinery for the physical treatment of souls had 
for the foundation of its legality the incident of 
the solemn day of expiation, found in the words : 
"On the tenth day of this seventh month . . . 
ye shall afflict your souls." 

This survey gives us a conception of the inter- 
ests involved, when those who were obedient to all 
these minute and multiplied requirements as to fast- 
ing came to Jesus and questioned : "Why do John's 
disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but 
Thy disciples fast not?" 

All this is curious enough as ancient Church 
history, but it must be confessed that fasting is still 
a living subject, and that the teaching of Jesus in 
this passage is vital and practical for our own Chris- 
tian time. For the twentieth century of our Lord's 



A ' j? 

era facta us surrounded by disciples, not of John 
the Baptist, nor yd of the sect of the Pharii 
hut of Christ, wh<> have fasts innumerable, pte- 

scribed by Canon law. and enforced by spiritual 

I u great sections of the present-day 
Church, the question oould not now be asked the 

Master: "Why do not Thy disciples East?" They 

ask. History has repeated itself. The same in- 
fineacea thai transformed Judaism from a religion 
^i feasts into a cult of fasting have survived in the 
Christian Church and have accomplished their char- 
acteristic work. The results are manifest. The 
teachings of Jesus on the subject have been ignored ; 
the calendar of the Church year has been defaced; 
and the genius of our religion has been misrepre- 
sented to the world. The processes by which this 
state of things has been accomplished are more or 
dearly marked in the history of the Christian 
Centuries — the}- can only be suggested here. 

"The Son of man came eating and drinking," 
that is, He was not an ascetic in His own habits of 
life, as was His herald, John. In keeping with I lis 
own example, let it be emphasized a> a starting- 
point, that OUT Lord wholly abstained from appoint- 
ing any fast whatever as a part of I lis religion. 
Let it further be noticed, that, while recognizing the 

2 



i8 Tin. Higher Rjtuau 

fitness of Easting under appropriate conditions, the 
New Testament never makes fasting, of itself, a 

means of grace. And yet Easting appeared, with 
other Jewish relics and with Jewish estimates of 
value, in the Christian Church. At first it was 
purely voluntary and without superstition, but many 
influences combined to endow it with an exagger- 
ated importance and to erect it into a permanent 
institution. The time came in the Christian, as in 
the Jewish Church, when fasts were regarded not 
only as aids, but as substitutes for the inner life ; 
when they were considered as effectual in securing 
the forgiveness of sins. 

By the sixth century, the historian informs us, 
fasting ceased to be a voluntary exercise. A coun- 
cil then decreed that any one neglecting to observe 
the stated times of abstinence should be treated as 
an offender against the laws of the Church. From 
this, it was only a step to the position of the eighth 
century, when fasting was extolled as meritorious, 
and disobedience of the laws of fasting was pun- 
ished by excommunication. Later, we have ac- 
counts of how those who ate flesh during prescribed 
seasons of abstinence were visited with physical 
penalties, such as the loss of their teeth — a severity, 
however, later discontinued. Xor, after this, are 



ADeouui \i'i«'\ o* 1 M'li i . 19 

surprised to find that some ol the old Jewish 

Easts were Christianized and given a place in the 

Church year. The four annual fasts of the J< •■•■. 1 

thus introduced, deprived, however, ol their 

Specific Jewish character, by being assigned one to 

each of the four seasons. The Pharisee's "twice-a- 

week" fast was also adopted in the Christian 

Church: hut Monday and Thursday were changed 
t<> Wednesday and Friday, because on Wednesday 

onr Lord was betrayed and on Friday He was cru- 
cified. 

Beyond this revival in Church practice, it was 
attempted to import the abomination of fasting 
under law into the spiritual teaching of Jesus. As- 
cetics — Pharisees of the new dispensation — inserted 
commandments to fast in the Xew Testament Scrip- 
tures. These interpolations are found in the Gos- 
pels, in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the Epis- 
In the Gospel according to Matthew,* Jesus 
was made to say, in explanation of the disciples' 
failure to exorcise the evil spirit, when they came 

down from the mount of transfiguration: "How* 

belt this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fast- 
ing." The Apostle Paul, champion Of Christian lib- 
erty, was made to enjoin fasting with prayer, the old 

Matt, xvii, 21. 



20 The Higher Rituau 

Jewish formula, in his first letter to the Corinthians. 

The student will notice that these interpolations, 

subversive of die essential spirit of Christianity, 

have hem Omitted in the Revised Version of the 
New Testament as glosses upon the original text. 

But while the revi>er> have dropped the words 
from the text, the thing abides in the law of the 

Church and the practice of its members. In the 
Roman Catholic Church the times and character of 
fasts are prescribed by law. Fasting is numbered 
with the "satisfactory" work of ''penance" together 
with prayer and almsgiving. Breaking the fasts 
commanded is reckoned with such sins as drunken- 
ness, swearing, and debauchery. The great annual 
fast of the modern calendar is that of Lent, covering 
the forty days before Easter. When first intro- 
duced. Lent lasted but forty hours. In the eighth 
century its duration was extended to thirty-six days. 
Later still, it was lengthened to forty days. And 
what shall we more say ? For time would fail us 
to speak of the fasts of the Ember-days, the vigils 
of Whitsuntide, of the Assumption of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary, of All Saints, the Rogation-days, and 
the whole long catalogue. Nor can we enter into the 
subject of the observance, with modifications and 
eliminations, by such bodies of Christians as those 



\ i myi. \k \ ri< -■ i 

of the Greek Church, the Church of England, the 
Lutherans, and others. The point to be enapha 
.i- sufficient for our pur]' not simply that 

these sects practice- Easting, bu1 that they enjoin it 

at stated times by canon law, and enforce obedience 
by penalty, 

W e arc rcad\ now to consider the way in which 
is met the challenge of His interviewers. The 

direct question as to why J I is disciples did not East 
received a specific answer. He might effectively 
have retorted in a different way. He conld have 
made His appeal to the law, pointing out the fact 
that the frequent fasts observed by the Phari 
and the disciples of John, were foreign to the law 
of Moses and, therefore, without the warrant of au- 
thority. He could have sternly rebuked, as He did 
under other circumstances, the vulgar hypocrisy 
that characterized the dreary program of fasting 
practiced by his hearer.-. He could have quoted the 
ancient prophets to .show that His questioners mis- 
understood the essentia] nature of a fa>t: "Is not 
this the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bands 
of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to 

let the oppressed go Eree, and that ye break every 

yoke? [s it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, 
and that thou bring the poor that arc cast out to the 



22 Tim; HIGHER Rittai.: 

house? When thou sees! the naked, that thou cover 
him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own 
flesh?" But the matter in hand received more thor- 
ough and satisfactory treatment. Without provok- 
ing any controversy as to the fasts of others, He ex- 
plains why, under existing- conditions, the Jesus- 
circle does not fast. 

"And Jesus said unto them, can the sons of the 
bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with 
them? As long" as they have the bridegroom with 
them they can not fast." In these words we have 
the first part of our Lord's explanation as to why 
His disciples are exempt from fasting. The effect- 
iveness of the answ r er lies in the metaphor used. To 
appreciate its force we need only to remember the 
associations that the terms, "bridegroom" and "sons 
of the bridechamber" would find in the Jewish mind. 
They would suggest, first of all, the familiar scenes 
of the wedding festivities of the people. The meta- 
phor would recall to them the nuptial ceremonies ; 
the bride, veiled and crowned with myrtle, being 
taken to the house of the bridegroom ; the wedding 
procession, passing through the streets at night, 
gay with festive dress, flaming with torchlights, en- 
livened with music, and greeted with song, as a re- 
ligious duty, by all passersby. It would suggest to 



A DtCLAl Mi' M I d I HD1 I . 23 

them the prolonged celebration of the "man 
feast," the rejoicings lasting for a week, with I 

ing, music, and dancing. It would remind them 
that, by universal consent and according to rabbin- 
ical law, this was to be a time of unmixed joy; that 
during the marriage-week all mourning was to c 
and even the obligation of the prescribed daily 
prayers was to be suspended; and that it devolved 
upon all, as a religious responsibility, to cheer the 
hearts of the bride and bridegroom. 

But the metaphor would carry a higher signifi- 
cance to Jewish thought. In the use of the figure 
of the bridegroom our Lord appropriated to Him- 
self the rich imagery of the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures. The union of Jehovah and Israel was repre- 
sented as a marriage. The Tabernacle and Tem- 
ple, where Jehovah manifested Himself to His peo- 
ple, were designated as "the bridal chambers." The 
word would bring to the minds of those wdio heard, 
the associations of a whole circle of religious ideas, 
familiar to them since childhood. It was a claim 
that the Messiah had come; that, in the One who 

was speaking, the age-long national hope was at 

last realized; that in Him Jehovah had performed 
the mercy promised to the fathers and had remem- 
bered His holy covenant. And, especially, would 



24 T 1 1 1 : I bean Rttuau 

the use of the figure remind tin- disciples of John, 

how, in their Maker's la>t testimony to Jesus, he 
bad used the same title: "Ye yourselves bear me 
witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I 

am sent before Him. He that hath the bride is the 
bridegroom ; but the friend of the bridegroom that 
standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly beca' 
of the bridegroom's voice; this my joy is therefore 
fulfilled/'* 

This, then, is the beautiful teaching contained 
in the Master's utterance: Jesus is the Bridegroom, 
long awaited and gladly welcomed ; His disciples, 
then and now, are "sons of the bride-chamber;" 
while He is with them His presence disperses their 
gloom. "They can not fast." This is said, of 
course, not of the outward act, the abstaining from 
food, which is possible at any time ; but of fasting 
as the expression of a sorrowful state of mind, the 
only condition in which it can be reckoned as a 
religious act. For fasting is synonymous with 
mourning: it is the outward symbol of inward grief. 
Where there is no sorrow, fasting is hypocrisy. All 
this is in harmony with the Gospel idea of blessed- 
ness in Christ. With the presence of the Savior, 
"sorrow and sighing shall flee away." His coming 



*John iii, 2S, 29. 



A 1 )|.d. \k '.DI.I-i.M' 25 

into the life creates tin- distinctive state of mind 
which characterizes Christianity as an expecii 

That distinctive state ,>i" mind is joy, and wink- joy 

rings wedding bells in the heart, sincerity demands 
that no signals row shall he displayed 

1 » 1 1 1 the day will come," continued JeSUS with 
Efil instruction, "when the bridegroom shall he 
taken away from them, and then they will fast in 
that day." These words are memorable as being 
the first intimation of the goal towards which Jesus 
had thus early set His face. A dim hint ("even so 
must the Son of man be lifted up") had been given 
privately to Xicodemus. But the phrase "taken 
away" occurs nowhere else in the Xew Testament, 
and clearly suggests a violent end. The future is 
stored with sorrow for the disciples who now re- 
e in the DridegroonTs companionship. The 
words are chill with the premonition of coming 
rth. 

"They will fast in that da}'." We may not agree 
with interpreters wdio, like Xeander, hold that this 
passa. imply an intimation of the approach of 

a period of general mourning, in which the term 
"fast" has a derivative meaning, Minifying mental 
affliction rather than physical denial. Bat dearly 
the words "will fa>t" are not imperative, but 



26 Tm; J Iiciii.k RlTUAU 

prophetic; they do not give a command, they state 
a fact When the time of sorrow comes the fasts 
of the disciples will be voluntary, and not compul- 
sory; the}' will spring from a feeling of the heart 
and not from the authority of an order. It is not an 
intimation that the Pharisees will be able to bend 
the disciples of JesUS to their will as concern 1 
fasting in that day; but that no prescription will 
be needed, because they will fast as the natural ex- 
pression of sorrow. And we must wholly dissent 
from the Roman Catholic inference based upon 
these words — that since the death of Christ it be- 
comes a Christian duty to fast. That is to affirm 
that we have only an absent Christ. That is to 
make the phrase "taken away" cover all the space 
between the Ascension and the Second Advent. 
That is to ignore the fact that the Scriptures do 
not countenance the notion that the Ascension 
robbed the disciples of Christ either of privilege or 
of joy. That is to forget that He said: "Lo. I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 
That is to overlook the circumstance that a con- 
tent course of action, based on such an interpreta- 
tion, would suggest abstinence from food during 
the entire year — a fatal objection., in more senses 
than one. 



A Declaration o* [mm & 27 

But the Btudy is doI to be closed until we point 
out the principles contained in the teaching, and 
.show the boundless sweep of their possible applica- 
tion, For there was involved in this pa 
arms, not simply the matter of Easting, but, beyond 
that, the Christian's relation to all the perplexing 
ami practical problems of ritual observance. To a 
limited question we have an unlimited answer. The 
inquiry was born of the moment and its antagon- 
isms; but Jesus foresaw the criticism that would 
challenge His kingdom at each forward step. So 
lie enlarged ilis words to cover the centuries. The 
whole subject of external forms is covered by prin- 
ciples more exhaustive than volumes of discu- 
because applicable to any possible case that can 
in the future. As in geometry the complex 
theorems about cones, pyramids, and spheres are 

1 upon the principles of the science as set forth 
in its axioms; as in the Constitution of the United 
States we have the principles of government upon 
which all State and national legislation must be 

■!; so in this teaching of our Lord upon the 
subject of fasting we find the fundamental and or- 
ganic laws by which we may ever govern our rela- 
tion- t<> religious forms, rites, ceremonies and ob- 



•8 Tin-; I liom.k RlTUAUSaC 

Prom the data before us, at least three law- of 
Christian ritualism emerge. There i>, first of all, 

the law of sincerity. It is fundamental in Christian- 
ity that every outward manifestation must be the 
expression of an inward state. Our observances 
must possess the qualities of spirit and of truth. 
"Be not as the hypocrites." The theatrical in relig- 
ion has its only reward in being seen of men. When 
joy gladdens the heart do not attempt the sad coun- 
tenance. When the 1 bridegroom is with you do not 
bang out the symbols of mourning because alleged 
authority has issued a decree of fasting. Such con- 
duct is forced and unreal, and, therefore, unchris- 
tian. We are also under the law of liberty. Fast- 
ing is not commanded and it is not forbidden. In 
this matter, the Christian is a free man. He must 
"seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
ness/' and if fasting becomes an essential means to 
that end, well and good. The disciple of Christ 
will use that which he finds most helpful in his 
spiritual development. He will make use of fasting 
or any other form, not as a mechanical observance 
of a prescribed regimen, but as a voluntary means 
to a devoutly desired end. We will also observe 
the law of congruity. This lesson is conveyed in 
the second illustration given by the Master on the 



A I 

general subject that of the new patch on the old 
garment Pasting is not a matter of prescription, 
hut of fitness, [f the canon law of your Church 

calls you t<» mourning at a jet time, that time may 
find your heart rejoicing in the Lord, and the exer- 

wonld he as inappropriate as merriment at a 

funeral or tears at a jubilee. "Let no man there- 
fore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect 
of a feast daw or a new moon, or a Sabbath-day."* 

The message is for each individual Christian. 
We have onr joyous seasons because (if the con- 
scious presence and favor of our Lord. For the 
loyal heart with a present Christ an observance that 
is the expression of mourning is out of the question. 
Joy is the characteristic product of a vital religious 
experience. Is the nride^room with you? Then 
and let your soul delight itself in the Lord. 
have heard ^lad tidings of great joy — do not 

i ! You have peace with God — do not afflict 
your soul ! You sit in "the heavenly places in 
Christ" — do not affect sackcloth and ashes! Christ 
abides with you — lift the Bag of joy in token of His 

presence. As l^: u haw the Bridegroom you 

can not :' 

But when the Bridegroom is taken away ; when 

♦Col. ii, 16. 



30 Tin; I [iGHBB RlTUAUSM. 

sin separates the heart from Christ ; and when the 
supreme blessing of intercourse with the Beloved is 

interrupted; then comes the true call to fasting. 

The exercise will then be no petty abstinence, rec- 
ommended as to time, length, and incidents, by some 
ecclesiastical authority; but it will be a great, black 
sorrow finding- a natural and appropriate expres- 
sion. The bereaved soul will proclaim its own fast ; 
the stricken heart will be its own calendar ; sorrow, 
and not the clock, will strike the hour of observance. 
Such fasting - , a symbol of the heart's desire, shall 
be as a sacrament in the sight of heaven, and such 
mourning shall be blessed, for it shall be comforted. 



II. 

TIIK RITUALISM I * OUB RELIGION. 

re religion and undefiled before Cod and the 

Pother is this, To visit the fatherless and wid( 
in their (Miction, and to keep himself unspotted 

from the world." — James i, 2y. 

Tin-: interpretation of the text hinges on the 

word "religion." This fact does not simplify our 

Like many of our great and familiar terms 

it is not easy to define. Religion is many-sided. It 

nts itself to the mind in many aspects. Our 

lish translation carries with it an idea foreign 

to the intention of the "apostle of common sense. " 

The use of the word "religion" in the aspect here 

Bet forth, persists in the dictionary, but is obsolete 

in common usaf 

The word "religion" is, in the original, more 
nearly synonymous with the term ritualism. Al- 
ford renders it "religious worship, especially that 

which consists in ceremonies/ 1 Trench says it is 

"predominantly the ceremonial service of religion." 

3* 



32 Tin; HlGHEfi RlTUAUSM. 

While Dr, Ilatcli thus sums up the results of his 

investigation: "Religion in its external aspect, as 

worship or as one mode contrasted with another, 

must he held to be its meaning in the New Testa- 
ment as in contemporary writers." It is not a defi- 
nition of the essence of Christianity, but a descrip- 
tion of its external manifestations. Religion, in the 
sense of the text, is the fruit of which piety is the 
root ; the body of which godliness is the soul ; the 
language of which the Spirit of Christ is the 
thought ; the garment in which the Christian life 
arrays itself. It is related to vital Christianity as 
light to the sun, fragrance to the flower, and smoke 
to sacrificial worship. It describes the cultus of 
Christianity — the visible part of religious service. 
It is an outward sign of the inward grace. It is 
as though James said: "Instead of rites and cere- 
monies (lustrations, sacrifices, fastings, circum- 
cisions, feasts, and other observances), such as char- 
acterize other religions, let it be known that the 
pure and undefiled ritualism, approved of God our 
Father, is something higher and nobler, for it con- 
sists in purity of life and deeds of helpfulness." 

Equally decisive as to the meaning of the pas- 
sage is the evidence as to the use of the term three 
hundred years ago, when it first found a place in the 



Tin: RiTl \ r RELIGION. 






Authorized Version, A living langu con- 

stantly changing. Wycliffe's Bible i s like Greek for 
the reader of to-day, and Chaucer's English is diffi- 
cult for the modern student. Archbishop Trench 
an interesting discussion on the subject in his 
'*\Yw Testament Synonyms/ 1 He shows that the 
'. religion was then identified with ceremonial 
ship. Speaking of the passage under considerab- 
le declares that the author's intention is ob- 
scured to the English reader because the terms "re- 
and "religion" "possessed a meaning- once 
which they now possess no longer, and in that 
meaning are here employed." He notes the old 
meaning given to the word by Milton in "Paradise 

." where he characterizes heathen idolatru 
bei: 

u adorned 
With gay religions full of pomp and gold." 

lie also notes the frequent use of the term in like 
sense in the ,4 Homilie>." All this is vitally impor- 
tant. To us religion means godliness. It stands, 

in common usage, for the sum total of Christianity. 

But in King James's time it was limited in its sense 

to the externa] aspect of religion. Tt can readily 

en that the lost meaning of the word might 
entail serious consequent 
3 



34 The l [ighes Ritualism. 

With this definition the passage is found to be 

in accord with the Spirit of the Epistle. The instruc- 
tion throughout IS practical in its character. [tS 

essence is found in the preceding words: "Bui be 

ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only." It 
is noteworthy that James, the representative of 

Christian Judaism, nowhere in this Epistle touches 
upon the subject of the ceremonial law. He is Only 
interested to detail the practical way in which those 
begotten of the Word of Truth are to exhibit the 

new life to the world. Those who are "the first- 
fruits of His creatures" are to manifest the life in 
their characters as individuals and in their social 
intercourse as members of the Christian fraternity. 
In this will be found obedience to the law. With- 
out this governing spirit, as he emphatically declares 
in the preceding verse, the most zealous devotion to 
ritual forms is useless — "this man's religion is 
vain." The teaching then rises to its climax in the 
declaration that the ritualism of the Christ-life con- 
sists in the elements of character and conduct upon 
which he lays stress. The passage with its general 
principles is the Epistle in miniature. 

A striking confirmation of this, as the true and 
primitive conception of the external aspects of Chris- 
tianity, is found in the early pages of Church his- 



Tin: Ki rUAUSII I 

tory. This feature is nowhere better stated than 

l>\ Principal Fairbairn, in "The Place of Christ in 

: :-rn Theology/ 1 Describing the distinctive 

characteristics of the new religion, he "It 

imong the ancient faiths as a strange and i 
traordinary thing — a priestless religion, without the 
mbols, -acrificcs, ceremonies, officials hitherto, 
save by prophetic Hebraism, held to be the religious 

all in all." In another place he speaks of the be- 
ginnings of Christianity and the first sentences are 
a paraphrase of James's teaching. "Men are God's 
BOnsj filial love is their primary duty, fraternal love 
their common and equal obligation. Worship d 
not depend on sacred persons, places, or rites ; but IS 
a thing of spirit and truth. The best prayer is 3 
I and personal; the man who best pleases God 
Ot the scrupulous Pharisee, but the penitent pub- 
lican. Measured by the standard of a sacerdotal 

religion, Jesus was not a pious man. He spoke no 
word, did no act, that implied the necessity of an 
official priesthood for His people. He enforced no 

sacerdotal observance, instituted no sacerdotal or- 

r, promulgated no sacerdotal law. ... It 

has no temple, save the living man ; no sacrific 

save those of the spirit and the life; no sensuous 

Indeed, SO devoid was earlv Christian- 



36 Tin. Higher Ritualism. 



3 



itv of anything like ritualism, that Mosheim gives 
as one reason for its introduction, which began in 
the second century, a desire on the part of the 
Church to rebut the charge of atheism made against 

Christians because they had none of the external 
paraphernalia of religion. 

The genuine Christian ritual, then, is not that 
which has been invented by men, promulgated by 
councils, enforced by canon law, or hallowed by use 
and age. But we have an authoritative ritual which 
bears a threefold commendation : it is pure ; it is 
undcfiled ; and it is approved of God. The word 
"pure" is positive in its content, designating the 
essential nature of the ritualism. The term "unde- 
filed" stands for its negative purity. It is free from 
any contamination resulting from contact with ex- 
ternal things, such as the associations of pagan idol- 
atries or the corruptions of Christian doctrines, 
"before God" means that this is the ritualism with 
the divine approval. "Before the face" was a well- 
known Hebraism conveying the idea of acceptance 
on the part of the one thus showing favor. The 
man who stands before God is a man accepted of 
God. A ritualism, pure and undefiled before God. 
is one that bears the seal of His approval. Here is 
something higher than man's invention ; here is 



Tii 37 

something better than an article borrowed from the 
ptians. 

There is a beautiful touch in the passage lik 
to be overlooked. This ritualism is approved of 
"Father." It is the inspiration of the divine 
and compassion. God, in His mosl intimate 
and persona] relation to His people, expressed in 
the Christ-given name of Father, gives the creden- 
tial of His approbation to this ritual manifestation 
of the life which is His gift. As holy, the Father 
wills that men shall be ''partakers of the divine na- 
ture." As loving - , the Father wills that the sons of 
God shall serve those of the universal family who 
are in need and affliction. The true ritualism has 
it- source in the Divine Fatherhood. 

the two distinctive elements in the Christian 
ritual the first mentioned is beneficence. This is ex- 
Jed in a characteristic Hebrew way — "to visit 
the fatherless and the widows in their afiliction. " 
Idle writer uses what the rhetoricians call synec- 
doche — a figure in which a part is made to d 

the whole. We make free use of the form in 
common speech. Thus laborers are known as 
"hands;" a fleet of ships as so many "sail;" the 
home is spoken of as a "fireside" or a "hearthstone." 
Here the writer uses a concrete example for the 



3S Tin: TIigiif.r Ritualism. 

comprehensive duty. Selecting a class peculiarly 
helpless in Oriental lands, as everywhere else — a 
class proverbially representative of the needy and 
afflicted — he presents the widows and orphans as 
typical of all sorts and conditions of men in need of 
sympathy and succor. One of the liturgical rites, 
appropriately symbolizing our faith and worthily 
uttering our worship to God, is help for need and 
sympathy for distress. Beneficence is a practical 
manifestation of godliness. Charity may be a genu- 
ine expression of piety. The Spirit of Christ is a 
spirit of benevolence; the ministry of Christ is a 
ministry of beneficence. Therefore the natural and 
fitting expression of the Christ-spirit in the heart 
will be found in the imitation of His beneficence in 
the life. In no other form can the mind of Christ 
towards others be so truthfully uttered. Benefi- 
cence will be, of necessity, the genuine, spontaneous 
outflow of a spirit-filled life. This truth has found 
utterance in the lines of the Quaker poet: 

" He serves thee best who loveth most 
His brothers and thine own. 

Thy litanies, sweet offices 
Of love and gratitude ; 

Thy sacramental liturgies, 
The joy of doing good." 



Tin: R] rUAU81l OS ( Kj» RSUGK 39 

This rite can not It performed by proar . The 
prayer-wheel nut] be placed where willing waters 
will turn it while the worshiper sleeps; the congre- 

n may sit in listless mood while minister or 

priest ^Conducts the BCrviCC; M contributions, more 

or less liberal, may put agents into contact with 
need and distress; but here the personal element is 
emphasized. A man can no more turn this part of 
the Christian ritual over to personal representatives 
than he can salary another to attend prayer-meet- 
in his behalf or celebrate the Lord's Supper 
for his spiritual benefit. "Official charity, " born of 
the pervading spirit of Christianity, does not always 
preserve enough of its original inspiration to save it 
from disrepute. This ritual provides for the sym- 
bolism of individual action. It directs personal con- 
tact with human woe and want. The liturgy reads: 
"To visit" the afflicted ; and "to visit" them in their 
affliction. 

Organized charity aims to provide what we call 
"the necessities of life." In this category we include 
food, shelter, clothing, fuel, and medicine. But the 
afflicted need the personal touch as well as the ma- 
terial relief. Interest, sympathy, and friendship 
must be reckoned among "the necessities of life." 
The minds and the hearts of the world's unfortu- 



40 Thh HIGHER Ritualism. 

nates have their thirsts and hungers, and these can 
not be satisfied by impersonal and professional care 
for their bodies. The word of eheer may be more 
efficacious than the second-hand coat ; the assurance 
of friendly interest may be more welcome than the 
ton of coal ; human sympathy in time of affliction 
may be more blessed than the prescription of the 
free dispensary. Our own experiences help us to 
understand the cry of the aged recipient of charity : 
"I don't want things, I want folks." The superior- 
ity of this personal help in contrast with proxy 
methods is well stated by Mr. Lecky, in his "Euro- 
pean Morals," in these luminous sentences : "The 
rich man, prodigal of money, which to him is of lit- 
tle value, but altogether incapable of any personal 
attention to the object of his alms, often injures so- 
ciety by his donations; but this is rarely the case 
with that far nobler charity which makes men famil- 
iar with the haunts of wretchedness, and follows the 
object of his care through all the phases of his life." 
We are not to imagine that this provision for 
personal contact is altogether in the interest of the 
poor and afflicted. There is a reaction of blessing 
for the visitor. This rite, as all others ought to be, 
is intended to be a means of grace. There is a cer- 
tain warmth for the heart in writing a check from 



Ti: >UH RgUGIi 41 

charitable motives; but there is an overflowing 
ting in persona] ministry. Personal aid for the 
afflicted is not only an evidence of piety — it also 
nourishes and strengthens the higher life. I 

Isewhere, exercise promotes health and strength. 
This is a direction in the interest of the well and 
strong and comfortable, as really as it is a provision 
for the afflicted. Lowell, with a poet's insight, saw 

this truth and left it with US in "The Vision of Sir 
Launfal." He makes the Christ speak to the pil- 
grim knight who has just shared his water and 
crust with the roadside leper "for Christ's sweet 
sake:" 

M Not what we give, but what we share, — 

the gift without the givei is bare ; 

Who givefl himself with his alius feeds three — 
Him>elf, his hungering neighbor, and me." 

In addition to henelicence, the second essential 
element of this approved ritualism is cleanness of 
life. This IS ptit in a characteristic way : "And to 
keep himself Unspotted from the world." The litur- 
gical color in otir ritual is white. The figure is BUg- 

1 by the Jewish ceremonial law. 'Idle id© 
holiness was imparted to the Hebrews by the kin- 
ITten method; that is, in object lessons. Idle 

presence of the abstract term in our vocabulary is 



\2 Tin; HiciiKk Ritlwi.ism. 

due to a long and complicated educational process. 

The absolute necessity of purity in man's conception 

of God and in the life of the individual is the basis 
of the Levitica] ritual. The division of the Pales- 
tine animals into clean and unclean ; the selection 
for sacrifice from the clean animals of one without 
spot or blemish ; the setting aside of a special class 
to make the ofifering ; the purification of priest and 
sacrifice as essential to the act of worship ; the re- 
peated purifyings of the camp and the people, — all 
served to form the notion, first of physical, and then 
of moral purity in the minds of the people. The 
fine gold of the great idea was then coined into the 
terms now current in the Christian world. The Jew 
was polluted by coming into contact with many 
things of the external world. A grave, a corpse, an 
unclean animal, or a fellow ceremonially defiled im- 
parted contamination, and a cleansing process was 
necessary before he could participate in the service 
of the Temple or associate with his co-religionists. 
How natural, then, for a Hebrew to speak of a 
clean life as one "unspotted from the world !" 

This part of the Christian ritual, like beneficence, 
really deserves the shop-worn panegyric, "a beau- 
tiful and impressive service." It is the natural out- 
come of a religion with a righteous God, a sinless 



Tn i. Ui i iai.ism I 'i ; ( h R Ki.i.h.h 43 

Christ, and a Hoi) Spirit. What else could l>< 
: an evangel whose burden is salvation I 
sin? What ceremonial could be more appropriate 
is of redemption begun in regeneration 
and continued in sanctification, each stage of devel- 
opment bringing nearer the cheering assurance, 
"We shall be like Him?" The work of the Holy 
Spirit in the heart is guaranteed to manifest itself 

in the outward life. The world has taken knowl- 
edge of the fact. The author of "The Varied* 
Religious Experience," opens a section of one of 

his lectures with these words: "The next religious 
symptom which I will note is what I have called 
Furity of Life." Studying the religious life as an 
investigator, the eminent psychologist has noted the 

fact that oik- of the features of religious experience 
is a sacrificial desire to get rid of everything deemed 
Unworthy of the object of worship. The disciple of 
the Holy One not only learns to do good, he also 

departs from evil. A blameless life is an essential 

element in the CUltUS exterior of Christianity. The 

energies expended in this endeavor are given to the 

noble ritual service of our religion. The man who 
thus believes and practices is the highest Church- 
man. 

Let it also be emphasized that what God hath 



44 Thh Highkr Rituausm. 

joined together in thia approved ritual, man must 

llOt put asund Two halves make this whole. 

Christian ritualism has two essentials — beneficence 

and holiness; not separated, but one and indivisible; 
not in themselves simply, but jointly, a manifesta- 
tion of the new life. Neither, by itself, is an ade- 
quate expression. There are those who would give 
assiduous performance to the one, and persistent 
neglect to the other. Men practice charity who make 
no claim to purity ; men gather wealth by question- 
able methods who hope by generous gifts to secure 
approbation, human and divine ; men with soiled 
hands exalt charity into a religion, and hope that 
generosity will offset their vices. But it is not 
benevolence or holiness, but benevolence and holi- 
ness. "Unspotted from the world" must be linked 
with the visiting of the fatherless and widows in 
their affliction. Others there are whose theory is 
comprehended in purity, but who find small place in 
their system for beneficence. They are enthusiastic 
believers, perhaps, in entire sanctification ; they may 
be vociferous professors of holiness ; they can expa- 
tiate upon the subject of heart-purity and deliver- 
ance even from "inbred sin ;" but when it comes to 
personal ministries or organized philanthropies they 
are minus quantities. For such let it be urged that 



Tin- Ritual] >ub Rvugk 45 

beneficence and purity belong to the fruit of 

the Spirit. Vita] Christianity is nol ai rience 

divorced from service, nor is charity in deed a sub- 
stitute for godliness in character. Tin- two must 
stand hand in hand at God's altar of life. Either, 
without the other, is only a caricature and not a 
faithful representation of the religion of Jesus 

Christ. 

The first thing that impresses us as we grasp 

this Christian conception of ritualism, is its ac- 
cordance with the genius of the whole Bible. Even 

in the ( >ld Testament, a literature horn of a religion 
itially liturgical in its character, you will find 
the same teaching. Samuel declared that "to obey 
IS better than sacrifice." The evangelical prophet, 
ih, made his protest against a false reliance upon 
and ceremonies. lie denounced the whole ex- 
ternal system of religion in the absence of a holy 
life and a practical henevolence. He went SO far as 

to declare that conformity to the ceremonial law, 

without these essentia] elements, was no better than 
the abominations of heathen idolatry, with its hu- 
man victims and its unclean offerings: "He that 
killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacri- 
ficeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck, he that 
offereth an oblation, as if he offered swines' blood; 



46 Tin; I [iGHEB RlTUAUSM. 

he that burnetii incense, as if he blessed an idol." 
Micah asks the question: "Wherewithal shall I 

come before the Lord, and how myself before the 
high God?" He asks if God will be pleased with 
burnt offerings, calves of a year old, thousands of 
rams, ten thousand rivers of oil, or even with the 
sacrifice of the first-born for the father's transgres- 
sions? The conclusion is the same as that given by 
James in the text. The costly sacrifice, the gor- 
geous ceremonial, amount to nothing in God's sight 
in the absence of beneficence and purity. "He hath 
showed thee, O man, what is good ; and what doth 
the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to 
love mercv, and to walk humbly with thy God." 
The Psalms are so free from any other ritualism 
that they supply expression for the high religious 
experiences of those who know little of the ancient 
temple and its liturgy. And what of the New Tes- 
tament? There you will find such an absence of 
material symbolism that Paul speaks of our religion 
as "the ministration of the Spirit." Trying to con- 
dense Christian obligations into two terms, no bet- 
ter could be found than these — purity and philan- 
thropy. 

We are further impressed with the fact that 
these ritual forms are worthy symbols of the Christ- 



Tm: Ritualism o* ( to r Rbuoi< 47 

life, Sii and service were the character- 

of our Lord's life, and those who repr< 
Him can find no better media than holiness and 

We turn with a sigf] of profound re- 
fief to the divinely approved ritualism after listen- 
ing to the puerilities of modem ritualistic discus- 
\\V can not forbear comparisons, even with 

knowledge Of their odious character. The "two 
points' 1 of James arc infinitely beyond the "six 

points' 1 of the Anglo-Catholics — the eastward posi- 
tion in celebrating, the mixed chalice, the altar 
lights, eucharistic vestments, wafer bread, and in- 
cense. The white life of the Christian is incom- 
parably superior to what the ritualists call the "li- 
turgical color-." Compare the conception of the 
text with a seriously intended statement such as 
this: "I accept only the five revealed colors, viz., 
red. white, yellow, blue, and purple, — and protest 
againsl the use of black, green, brown, and other 
fancy colors in the services of the Church." The 
(kx'd of beneficence is of transcendent value in com- 
parison with the rite of the sign of the cross, the 

genuflections of formal worship, or even the pros- 
trations of stated adorations. The religion of Jesus 
Christ can not be adequately symbolized by a re- 
IOn to the kindergarten methods of the child- 



48 The I Ligheh Ritualism. 

hood of Judaism, as sonic sects of our lime seem to 
imagine. The real object lessons of Christianity, 
spelling- out its essential nature to the world at 
large, will be found in the white robes of personal 
purity and the open hands of Christly benevolence. 
The subject also impresses us as timely. Not 
that our communion is in especial danger of ex- 
cessive ritualism. Few show symptoms of having 
been inoculated to any degree with the toxin of the 
liturgical mania of the last fifty years. But it is 
timely because fundamentals are always in order. 
The insistence upon the authoritative way in which 
Christianity is to be presented to the world in its 
external aspects, leads us into no quarrel with the 
simple rites and dignified conduct of public worship 
conducive to decency and order. We do not forget 
that the ritual serves to impart and preserve the his- 
toric truths of Christianity, and that they may wit- 
ness to doctrinal truths as well. We have not over- 
looked the fact that Christ established two simple 
rites — baptism and the Lord's Supper; the first 
bearing perpetual witness to the doctrine of cleans- 
ing from sin, and the second a monument to the 
historical fact that Christ died for our sins. We 
do not ignore the inference that, as externals have 
their place in the divine economy, the, absence of 



Tin; Ki i UAUSU 0* ( >UB RgUG* 

anything like liturgical forma in the New T 
men! \ to the godly judgment oi the 

ihiper. We should heed the demand of refined 
11 as th< n oi devout impulse 

in tli E public worship. But, because all 

s are weak through the flesh, we need 
nstantly kept in touch with the vital and 
rial in our religion. 

One of our common errors has to do with the 
function of ritualism. Usually its value is estimated 
on the basis of what it will accomplish in the spirit- 
ual improvement of the worshiper. But the Xew 
ament conception, both in our text and else- 
where, indicates that the function of a rite is expres- 
sion rather than inspiration. This is true of bap- 
We are baptized, not that we may secure that 
which the symbol signifies, but because we are sup- 
d to be already in possession of that which is 
represented by the outward sign. The symbol ex- 
> tlie fact that the subject of baptism is at the 
time free from the guilt of sin. This is true of the 
Lord's Supper. As a Sacrament it gives expres 
to an allegiance already existent As a Eucharist 
it expresses a gratitude already in the heart. As a 
Communion it is expressive of a double fellowship 
already enjoyed — a fellowship with Christ and a 
4 



50 T hi: 1 [iGHER RlTUAlJ 

fellowship with Christ's people. Almsgiving with- 
out the spirit of henevolence in the heart is an abom- 
ination in the sight of God. Prayer must always 
utter a sense of need and a recognition of depend- 
ence. It is not doubted that these observances, pro- 
wling from a right spirit, have a reaction of 
blessing and thus become means of grace. But only 
to him that hath shall it be given. The form must 
first be vitalized ; of itself it possesses no life-giving 
power. The spirit of the worshiper sanctifies the 
worship. The rite can not quicken the soul. The 
outward ceremony can not produce the spiritual 
reality; it can only bear witness to its existence. 
Water applied to the body does not cleanse the soul ; 
bread and wine do not transform the character ; the 
humble heart is not the product of the bended knee; 
benevolence is not related to beneficence as efTect to 
cause. These and all ritual observances must first 
be expressions of the inner life. The attempt to 
vitalize religious experience by ceremonial machin- 
ery can only result in a sort of galvanic activity. 
The primary function of ritualism is the expression 
of life. Lacking the spirit, the form is but hypocrisy. 
In the use of rites there is a progressive peril. 
There is, first, a tendency to confuse the symbol 
with the reality. Later the symbol is likely to be 



Tin R i ( h r Rbligk i 

turned for that which it represents. This has 
been the history even of the two simple rites estab- 
'. bj Christ Baptism symbolizes cleansing 
sin, but we have the dogma of baptismal re- 
ration. The Lord's Sapper symbolizes the shed 

1 and broken body of the Savior, but we have 

the doctrine of transnbstantiation and the sacrifice 

of the Mass. Phillips Brooks told of an English 

clergyman whose sermon he heard on the occasion 
of the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of 
Queen Victoria's reign. The Church of England 

r protested against the prevalent opinion that 
religion was on the decline in the kingdom, and the 
following was the reason given for the faith that 

in him: "Whereas forty yea' the black 

D was used in many pulpits, it was now almost 

en, but the surplice had taken its place: in 

the second place, that while formerly the choral 

service v. ndered the especial mark of a pecul- 

iar class, it was now almost universally used in 
lish Churches." First confusion, and then sub- 
stitution, is the natural history of ritualism as a dis- 

The ultimate effects are visible in the older 

communions. Frederick Robertson stated the case 
ctly when be said: "Romanists announce a 

tiun which is inseparable from ceremonial ob- 



52 The Higher Ritualism. 

servances, and has so interblended and intermixed 
ritual with ethics that it is next to impossible for an 
ordinary mind to discriminate between them." The 
fruit of such a system is typified in the Italian brig- 
and kneeling in the Church to pray for success in 
robbery or murder ; or in the American assassins 
who could take a life, but would not remove an amu- 
let from the body when they stripped their victim. 
When such conditions result, the external sys- 
tem must perish in the interest of the worshipers. 
That is the lesson of an episode given us in the an- 
cient Scriptures. The brazen serpent of the wilder- 
had been preserved afl a memorial of the sin and 
deliverance of Israel in the wilderness. But when 
the reverence for the relic degenerated into super- 
stition Ile/.ekiah came to the rescue of the worship- 
er-. He "broke in pieces the brazen serpent that 
Moses had made; for to those days the children of 
I>rael did burn incense to it : and he called it 

Nehushtan, that is, a piece of brass." 

That is one of the lessi OS of the Jewish captivity, 
as interpreted by Dean Stanley in his "History of 
the Jewish Church." In one respect this captivity 
was an emancipation. Torn away from all the ex- 
ternal forms of temple worship, they developed a 



Tin; RlTUAUSJri OB OUR RELIGION. 53 

species of religious liberty they had never known 
before. The overthrow of the sanctuary on Mount 

Zion inspired a deeper sense of the unseen than had 
been produced by the elaborate ritual of the temple 

service. Deprived of the sacrificial system of wor- 
ship they were brought face to face with God. As 
the author describes it: "Man's necessity is God's 
Opportunity ; the loss of earthly ceremonial is the 
occasion for heavenward aspirations. And hence 
it is that from the Captivity dates, not indeed the 
first use, but the continued and frequent use of 
prayer ... as the chief access to the Invisible 
Divinity. Prayer now literally took the place of 
their evening and morning sacrifice, their morning 
and evening incense. Xow for the first time we hear 
of men 'kneeling upon their knees three times a day/ 
praying and making supplication to God. Now for 
the first time assemblies for prayer, and praise, and 
lamentation, as afterwards in houses and syna- 
gogues, were gathered by the watersides. . . . 
And not in prayer only, but the homely acts of benef- 
icence and kindness rose now for the first time to 
the full dignity of religious ordinances/' It was 
also necessary, as the author avers, that there should 
be a second overthrow of the Temple in the interest 
of spiritual progress, coincident with the inaugura- 



54 The Higher Ritualism. 

tion of the consummation of Judaism in the rise of 
Christianity. 

But the ritualism approved of God possesses 
permanent elements. It will never wax old. It is 
as abiding as the purposes of God and as lasting as 
the needs of man. It will never he thrown upon the 
scrap-pile of the ages in the interest of a purer re- 
ligion. It will continue until the whole world is a 
temple of God crowded with devout worshipers. It 
will persist until each common meal becomes a sac- 
rament, because when men eat and drink it will be 
done "in the name of the Lord JeSUS." It will 

Sourish until the bells of the horses in the streets 

shall bear the inscription of the high priest's miter, 

"Holiness to the Lord." h will spread until all 

Christians understand that they belong to "a royal 
priesthood/ 1 and with holy hands offer sacrifices at 

the altars of daily life, acceptable to God by Jesus 

Christ. This is the simple and sublime ritualism of 
our religion. This we should study. This we 
should preach. This we should practice. 



III. 



THE FELLOWSHIP OF CHRIST'S SUF- 
FERING. 

"That I may know Him . . . and the fellow- 
ship of His sufferings:''' — Phil, hi, 10. 

THESE words voice an aspiration of the Apostle 
Paul. Let us frankly confess that we are not eager 

for the experience. Suffering, in all its kinds and 
degrees, is something from which we instinctively 
shrink. Instead of seeking it, we pray to be deliv- 
ered from it. The utterance, therefore, sounds like 
the voice of religious hysteria. It seems to reveal 
a positively unwholesome state of mind. The words 
awaken within us no answering enthusiasm. If 
they embody a Christian privilege, we do not care to 
claim it. At best we think such whole-hearted de- 
votion might characterize a few choice souls, but it 
does not strike US as an attainment for the average 
Christian. It is not the fellowship with Christ of 
which we habitually think. We seek the fellowship 

55 



56 The Higher Ritualism. 

of His joy; we are ready to share the fellowship of 
His victories ; we hope for the fellowship of His 
eternal glory; but "the fellowship oi His sufferings" 
— that is another matter. 

But making deductions for the fervor of the 
writer born of his unique experience ; remembering 
that such declarations, like most of the great hymns 
of the Church, mark the high tides of the spirit and 
not the low ebbings of life; there is something to 

be said before we shelve the text as a mere outburst 

of religious ecstasy. The key to any problem in- 
volved lies in the Simple fact that Paul loved his 
Lord. Tin- chapter throbs with devotion to Christ 

These words are words of love; this desire is the 

desire of love. It is a commonplace fact that love 

craves complete fellowship with its object. Even 

animal affection is in evidence here. The lioness of 
the desert and the tign — of the jungle suffer with 

their offspring. The parent chooses this fellowship 

with the child. Ilu>band and wife find themselves 
drawn more closely together in the partnership of 

affliction. A satisfactory test of friendship is given 
by fellowship in sufferings. The one who deserts 

tis in sorrow and trouble can not satisfy us by pro- 
tested affection. This longing of a loving heart, so 
true to the nature of love as we mark" its ordinary 



Fki.i.ow sn i p os Christ's Suffering. 57 

manifestations, can not be ignored on the ground 
that it is abnormal. 

Preaching to a congregation of those who would 

answer with the disciple. "Yea, Lord, Thou knOW- 

esl that I love Thee," the chosen subject is not out 
of place. We do not fear that it will give us a 
gloomy and forbidding view of the religious life. 
It may thus appear to those who mistake the nature 
of the Christian life. It will not appeal to those who 
are selfish, to those who are indolent, to those who 
are cowardly, to those who regard religion as a 
cheap and comfortable device for getting into 
heaven. But the call of the ambassador for Christ 
is not to be made to such motives. Appeals to self- 
ishness will not people the kingdom of God. Suc- 
cess is not in such methods. Some one has said : 
"You can tempt a man to the pit with sweetmeats, 
but when he starts for heaven he wants to feel that 
he is a hero." Christ appealed to the highest in 
man. That in itself is an evidence of divinity. 
Those forms of religion that stoop to human stand- 
ards; that demand no toil and sacrifice; that offer 
material inducement instead of heroic opportunity, 
have a sickly life and die a lingering death. 

( hie might imagine that men would flock to the 
standards of ease and comfort in religion. History 



58 The: Higher Ritualism. 

bears witness to the contrary. Those sects and re- 
ligionists most abused, most familiar with the fel- 
lowship of sufferings, have been the most successful. 
The greater the difficulties, the sterner the circum- 
stances, the harder the conditions, the more sturdy 
and the more fruitful has been the religious move- 
ment. That is the memorable lesson oi the triumph 
of early Christianity. That is the teaching of his- 
tory in regard to the beginning ^i every great relig- 
ious movement. The Protestant Reformation, the 

ReHgtotu Society of Friends, the Presbyterian 

Church, the Baptist Church, early Methodism, and, 
more recently, the Salvation Army, all came up out 

of great tribulation. They made their appeal to the 
heroic in human nature, and were not disappointed. 

The easy thing, the pleasant thing, the selfish thing, 
are perfectly consistent in the minds of men with 

going to the devil. They can never be made the 
motive forces of goodness and greatness. It is time 
a great silence fell upon sugar-and-water coaxings 

in the Christian Church. You can till the Church 

with milksops under such evangelism. Their pres- 
ence may swell our pride of numbers, but it will 

cripple our energies, dilute our principles, and hin- 
der our true p r o g re ss . We need rock-Christiana in 

these days of peace and plenty. The climate in 



lftcux>w8Hif <>r Christ's Suffering. 59 

which we live is enervating. We are in danger of 
becoming religious lotus-eaters. There is special 
need of the enforcement of the heroic aspects of our 
faith, and to this category our subject belongs. 

Approaching the positive lessons of our theme, 

let us pause to notice that there are some sufferings 

which, by their very nature, are excluded from this 
high fellowship. There are some sufferings we can 
not share with Christ ; and some of our sufferings 
He can not share with us. The aspiration of Paul 
was futile if it sought a part in the atoning suffer- 
ings of Christ for the sin of the world. In this we 
can have no fellowship. The apostle recognized 
this fact. He asked the Corinthians : "Was Paul 
crucified for you ? or were ye baptized in the name 
of Paul?" Recently there has been some very loose 
use of the sacred title, "Savior." We have heard 
it declared that all Christians are saviors. The 
term may, perhaps, be legitimately used in describ- 
ing some functions of the disciples of Christ. But 
such use of the word must never lead to forgetful- 
ness of the characteristic truth of our religion that 
there is only one sacrifice for sin ; that there is only 
one Savior for the sinner ; there is "only one name 
given under heaven and among men whereby we 
can be saved ;" and that name is not yours, nor mine, 



60 The Higher Ritualism. 

nor the name of the apostle. Christ is the propitia- 
tion for our sins. He provided full redemption cen- 
turies before we were born. The fellowship of 
those Bufferings we can only know by enjoying the 
blessings that they bestow. Prom any other fellow- 
ship in them all men are excluded. 

Nor are the sufferings Of the text those incident 
to the fact that Christ was found in fashion as a 
man. He participated in our common sufferings by 
virtue of His humanity. Hut these are our suffer- 
ings, and not His sufferings. The passage evidently 
refers to thofte sufferings which only a Christian 

life can share with the Master. The ordinary afflic- 
tions pf life, which COOM both UpOO the just and the 
UnjUSt, are Otltside the limits of the text. Identity 

<»f Bufferings would not satisfy the desire. Christ 

Was poor; but men ar and Christless. Christ 

wa sited; but men have been persecuted who 

rejected Christ. Christ knew hunger; but men 

have been hungry and godless. Christ was cruci- 
fied; but One Of the malefactors who was crucified 
at the >ame time and place had no fellowship with 
the Savior. The impenitent thief suffered with 
Christ, but Suffering, in itself, will create no such 

fellowship as that of the prayer. This leaves out 
of our consideration the sorrows common to man- 



Fellowship <>r Christ's Suffering. ( >i 

kind, and also the peculiar sufferings of Christ as 
the Redeemer of men. 

There are some of our suffering's that exclude 
Christ from their fellowship. To some of our famil- 
iar experiences He was a stranger. "His suffer- 
ings" says the text. The sorrows of committed sin 
the Holy One never knew. In the endurance of the 
personal consequences of sin no man may lay to 
his soul the flattering unction that he is suffering 
with Christ. The indictments of an accusing- con- 
science, the shame that dogs the heels of the wrong- 
doer, were no part of His experience. One of the 
most remarkable features of the Gospel record is 
its revelation of the self-consciousness of our Lord. 
Xot once in all its pages do we find a trace of the 
consciousness of guilt. There is never an indication 
of the penitence that becomes a heart alienated 
from God. He never descended into the depths of 
despair where the only relief is the sinner's cry for 
mercy. Throughout His whole white life He could 
look full and fair into the eyes of those about Him 
with the challenge, "Which of you convinceth Me 
of sin ?" He who taught His disciples to pray, 
"Forgive us our trespasses," never made use of the 
supplication in His own behalf. In all the biog- 
raphies of the most wonderful character there is 



62 The Higher Ritualism. 

nothing more wonderful than the utter absence of 
any sense of wrong-doing. Because He was with- 
out sin, the c< •: of guilt can have no place 
in the fellowship of His suffering 

There is another element in human experience 
that we may not reckon among "His sufferings." 
Though Chris! very man. He did 

not know that which constitutes the bitterness of 
ath for sinful man. The naturalists have called 
attention to the Significant fact that animals seem to 
have no fear of death. They the instinct of 

but man adds to that a fear 

that the animals know- 
nothing of sin. They have no foreboding because 
of judgment pi They have 

no ir. pportunities and rejected 

ice« They have n<> vain regrets; no anticipations 
of consequences. This leath its somber colors 

in the thought of man. But all this was foreign tO 

the exper: Christ He was nol going out 

t hr ough th of life Into an unknown country, 

lit i carrying with Him a report of failure 

and disobedience. He could say, "It is finished." 

He COUld the verdict. "Well done!" He 

was returning to the glory which He had with the 

Father before the world was. Death, for Him, WES 



Fbux>wshif of Christ's Suwering, f>3 

going home. "The sting of death/ 1 which is sin, 
was no! an element in "His sufferings/ 1 

Having thus cleared our field of vision, we turn 
to the content of our text. It may seem, after such 
a process of exclusion, that little is left, but we 
shall find much land yet to be possessed. 

Most frequently the Christian may know "the 
fellowship of His sufferings" in the hours of temp- 
tation. Our common conception of fellowship with 
Christ is associated with experiences of peace and 
occasions of blessing. We judge ourselves pecul- 
iarly near our Lord in those conditions free from 
all disturbing influences. The intervals of tran- 
quillity, when "not a wave of trouble rolls across 
the peaceful breast ;" the occasions of joy, when 
the very laughter of heaven seems to echo in our 
hearts ; the seasons of inspiration, when the soul 
mounts with wings as do the eagles, — these we have 
considered the times of fellowship with Christ. 
But it is good to remember that when we have lost 
the exaltation of worship ; when joy seems only a 
dim memory of brighter days ; when temptations 
crowd us, making their appeal to what we would be 
pleased to believe are our necessities, — in such sore 
straits as these we may know "the fellowship of 
His sufferings." This assurance has been given: 



64 Tin; Higher Ritualism. 

"For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, 
he is able to succor them that are tempted." Our 
5ed Lord "was in all points tempted like as we 
arc," and, we may well believe that, knowing the 
sore trials of otir weakness, there is never a time 
when Chri>t is Dearer to His people than in their 

wilderness experienc 

Tl. temptation of all history, by common 

at called ,, the temptation/ 1 was the fierce strug- 

ding the inauguration of our Lord's 

ministry. Not that it was Hisonl) trial. Nodoubt 

He knew the Common allurement- of childhood, the 

universal enticement! ith, and was often sorely 

tried after Hi- wilderness victory. But there He 

ht the d and met the typ- 
ical temptat: The man who is led 
of the Spirit and tempted of the devil knows the 
fellowship of tl When tempted to 

given p [fish ends, or to 

place the servants of the flesh upon the throne of 

spirit, let US not forget that the same seductive 

estion came to the Captain of our salvation: 

"Command that these Stones become bread." Tt 
'. by the pr< " hunger and the de- 

mand of seeming necessity. Wherever there stands 
a disciple fronting his appetites, and in his conflict, 



Ku.i.ow sn 1 1* oi ; Christ's Suffering, 65 

perhaps, seeming so far from God, let him not for- 
get that he is facing the same foe once conquered 
by his Lord. Resisting the attempted supremacy 
of the physical and nourishing the real life on the 
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, we 
enter the circle of Christ's fellowship. 

When tempted to resort to doubtful expedients 
in the work of life, to secure a hearing and influence 
by spectacular methods; when our eyes are dazzled 
by the glare and glitter of the superficial ; when the 
inclination sw r eeps over us to reach a goal without 
walking the weary way of work, we are not to imag- 
ine that such a condition of mind resisted separates 
us from our Lord. In such a trial of virtue we have 
His sympathy. He has not forgotten the time when 
He debated and rejected the plan of throwing 
Himself from the pinnacle of the Temple into the 
midst of the worshipers in the court below. Thus 
He was tempted to secure acceptance as Messiah. 
Having suffered being thus tempted, His sympathy 
encircles the beleaguered disciple. 

When strong appeal is made to acquisitiveness, 
a natural instinct of our humanity ; when in a ma- 
terial age wealth is regarded as the badge of suc- 
cess and honored as the instrument of power ; when 
avenues of attainment by questionable means lie 
5 



66 The Higher Ritualism. 

stretched out before imagination ; when generous 
and glorious pictures of possible good to be accom- 
plished by our possessions are painted by the temp- 
ter; we will not be cast off by the One who, look- 
ing out over the kingdom oi earth from the moun- 
tain height, rejected the promise of them all when 
offered in exchange for devil worship. The man 

in business, professional, or official life, who follows 

the Christ through \ ] nfimon experiences, 

knows "the fellowship «'f His suffering Nor 

need we make the mistake of thinking that the 
higher the life the greater will be the freedom from 

;lt. We may fondly hope for a state of grace 

even here where temptation shall be unknown. The 

answer to such a vain imagination is that Christ 
tempted. Just in degree as our attainments 

approximate our ideal, will the character and 

strength of our temptati* m 

The man who sutlers iu the cause of light may 
also enjoy this fellowship. It may seem an anach- 
ronism to speak to this comfortable congregaion 
about anything as antiquated a- persecution fof 

righteousness 1 Sake. We thankfully think of that 
as one of the lost arts. Re not deceived. True 
there has been a change in form, but with it a stir 
vival of the fact. Instead of mutilating the body, 



i ; i:i.i.o\vsh a* o* Christ's Suffering. 67 

society has perfected the finer art of torturing the 
mind. The thumb-screw has hern replaced by the 
pointed shaft of wit. Instead of confinement of 
the person, ostracism awaits the offender. The in 
quisitor's tribunal has been expanded, and now in- 
cludes the shop and street, the office and parlor. 
The mediaeval inquisitor in monkish mask and gown 
sleeps in the grave, but the man working- with you 
in the shop or associating with you in business, 
may suddenly transfix you with a caustic criticism 
that will hurt for days and perhaps rankle for 
months. The Pharisees of formality are still with 
US, ponderously denouncing any manifestation of 
spontaneity or enthusiasm of religious life that 
threatens fossilized conditions. The Sadducees of 
skepticism have their successors, who sound the 
hewgag of boasted free thought and emancipated 
life, who brand the restraints of religion as narrow- 
. and who look with patronizing pity upon the 
toilers of the kingdom. The high priests of mod- 
ern society know how to call offenders to account 
and how to punish those who fail to acknowledge 
authority. The haughty Roman, who cares for none 
of these things, still lingers in the world. And with 
all these the disciple of Christ comes in contact. 



68 The HIGHER Ritualism. 

Make no mistake. There yet remains an opportu- 
nity to attain the last of the beatitudes. 

Some one may interject: "You are certainly 
mistaken. My experience IS to the contrary. I 
have been a Christian for many years, and the fact 
has never caused me the slightest inconvenience, 

not to mention suffering. Times have changed." 

Acknowledge the change, but remember there are 

tun very different reasons why the Christian life 

is more tolerable in these days. In the first place, 

the influence of Christ permeates society, and the 

of Christianity are feebler and lacking in the 

UTCes of former times. But there is another 
significant and g Fill Cause for the calm and 

content of some pi Christians. They are 

spared by the opposition for the same reason that 

civilized an; not harass Old men and women 

and other non-combatants; for tin- same reason that 
traitors are not visited with condign punishment 
after capture by the foe. There are many Chris- 
tians who arc non-combatants ; who arc lacking in 

the qualities of aggressive godliness; who by their 
lives play into the hands of the enemy. Of course 

such are spared. They are even cherished and ex- 
ploited. 'Idle messages senl to the seven Churches 

of Asia, recorded in Revelation, reveal the fad that 



Ku.i.owsn i p oi ; Christ's Suffering, 69 

all of them did not suffer persecution. But the two 
conspicuous for fidelity, Smyrna and Philadelphia, 
were also pre-eminent in trial. There were two of 
those Churches, however, that seemed to be per- 
fectly free from suffering- for the sake of their 
cause. The lukewarm Church in Laodicea at- 
tracted no assault ; and the one in Sardis, with a 
name to live, but dead, aroused no opposition. Un- 
til conditions are ideal the Spirit-filled saint must 
be a disturbing influence. The secret of a peaceful 
life may be only the shameful impotence of a merely 
nominal Christianity. 

This review has not exhausted the possibilities 
of this fellowship. There was another element in 
the sufferings of our Lord which we may share. 
He knew what it meant to minister without appre- 
ciation and to serve without sympathy. The unap- 
preciated Christ came to His own, and His own re- 
ceived Him not. How different would have been 
the story of His life if the chosen people had recog- 
nized, welcomed, and supported their Messiah ! 
What a depth of pathos in His lament : "O Jerusa- 
lem, Jerusalem, thou that tallest the prophets, and 
stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often 
would I have gathered thy children together, even 
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 



70 The Higher Ritualism. 

and ye would not !" Even in the Nazareth home there 
was the same absence of appreciation. Could there 
beetl a deeper humiliation than the effort of I lis 
kinsmen to lay hold upon Him, because, as they 
put it, "IK- is beside Himself?" They were so 
lacking in vision that at the time of the episode, 
they looked up<>n the glory of history as the shame 
of the family. The same conditions obtained even 
in the inner circle of discipleship. It must have 
been an aggravation even of the agony in the gar- 
den, that of the disciples, rOUSed from sleep, lie 
must ask: "Cotildest not thou watch one hour?" 
His life experience WOtlld have justified the u>e of 
the Psalmist's lament: "Reproach hath broken my 
heart; and I am full of heaviness; and I looked for 
some to take pity, and there was n<>ne ; and that 
which comforts, but I found none." 

Wherever there is a disciple without sympathy 

in the home ; wherever there is a toiler without ap- 
preciation from those h to bless; wherever 
there is a reformer urging an unpopular cause fof 

Christ's sake; there are those who fellowship with 
the Christ ( >f such we know no better type in 
modern life than those we call foreign missionaries. 
1 Ascribing their hardships, we are apt to speak of 

absence from home, of rig climate, and of 



uowshif o* Christ's Suffering, 71 

perils to life. But one of the heaviest burdens of 
the lonely workers in the foreign field is lack of 
human sympathy. They arc unappreciated by those 

they help — objects Of suspicion and even hatred. 
They are unappreciated by those they represent ; 
witness the meager and grudging- support given by 
the Church at home. They are unappreciated by 
lookers-on ; witness the frequent contempt for their 
work by tourists and government officials. The 
cup held to the lips of Christ's evangels in foreign 
fields holds no greater bitterness. For this desire 
for sympathy is an instinct of human nature. Xo 
man is so strong and self-sufficient as not to suffer 
when it is withheld. Many (of whom the world 
was not worthy) have had fellowship with the suf- 
ferings of the unappreciated Christ. 

One more element of this fellowship deserves 
mention. It is the inevitable sadness that is born of 
the simple knowledge of human sin and human 
wretchedness. It is granted that the world's vol- 
ume of suffering has been greater in times past ; that 
present-day conditions are more distinctly whole- 
some and conducive to comfort ; that more agencies 
exist for the discovery and relief of acute distress; 
that the altruistic feeling is far stronger, more gen- 
erally diffused, and more practical in its aims and 



72 The Higher Ritualism. 

methods. It is no doubt true that, in proportion to 
population, men are better off than in any previous 
period of history. But it is also true that there 
has never been a time when the human conscious- 
ness of the misery of others was more poignant. 
There is more vicarious suffering than ever before; 
more sac! hearts because oi the world's wretched- 
ness; more souls that echo the anguish of the race. 

Wherever life has been touched by the Spirit of 

Christ this consciousness follows as a result. The 

world knows better to-day than at any point in its 

history how to interpret the experience of the Lord 
Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, when He gath- 
ered to His heart of love the >in and woe of the 

world. 

This fellowship with the sufferings of Christ, in- 
creasingly characteristic of our era, is due to two 
rs. There is. first, a larger knowledge of con- 
ditions. For the first time in history men consti- 
tute, for news purposes, a single community. Morn- 
ing and evening, moist and fresh from the press, in- 
formation of the world's doings and conditions is 
spread before us. We hear the universal cry of sor- 
row, and it is like the sound of many waters. ( htr 
mountain and ocean come the appeals of tort tired 
and outraged Armenians ; across the white silences 



Pbiaowshif o* Christ's Suffering, 73 
of far Siberia the imprisoned anguish escapes to 

America; from far-oil" India we hear the weak 
moans Of the emaciated and dying victims of fam- 
ine ; up through the social crust sound the groans 
and curses of "the submerged tenth;" and from the 
Orient we hear the clash of armies, and are touched 
by the horrors of war on the other side of the planet. 
Xo human sorrow lies outside the range of knowl- 
edge or the circumference of sympathy. In antiq- 
uity the Greek or the philanthropic Roman could 
not attain the hundredth part of our information 
concerning world conditions. The devout of the 
Middle Ages, sheltered in cell or cave, might pity 
suffering humanity, but how limited his knowledge ! 
Not until our own generation has the world been 
rolled upon the shoulders of a Christian Atlas. Xot 
until our own time has "earth with its thousand 
voices" made its tremendous appeal to the Christian 
conscience and the Christian sympathy. 

But the simple knowledge would not of itself 
produce this world sympathy. If Greek and Roman 
had possessed our knowledge they would not have 
manifested a race feeling. The pious Jew might 
sing his lyric lamentations over the desolations of 
his own race, but those outside were dogs. This 
new feeling is a fruit of the Spirit of Christ. It is 



74 Tin-: Higher Ritualism. 

because men have conic into fellowship with the 
Man of Sorrows that conditions have changed The 
kingdom of heaven conies in sympathy and helpful- 
ness. The Christian spirit, imparted to the hearts 
of men, has brought the Christ-man 9 S burden. This 

fellowship will grow from mere to more. That 

which we now B - the first faint streak of 

dawn to the full glory of the noon. In spiritual 

life, as in organic life, it is a law that the lowest 
forms are Lc suffering; and that the 

higher j in the scale of being the larger the 

capacity. So more and more, as nun become like 

Him and the world rolls down Its wa\ U> the feet of 
the I will the CT) of human SOITOW Ik- heard 

by "the body of Christ 91 and an in sympathy 

and bene;. It is not the increase in the 

amount of human suffering which has depn 
some of the finest -pints of thi and led some 

of them t<» believe that the world is growing w 
hut it is the gn m ing pn >irit I >f Christ 

making those tm<ler its influence more .sensitive. 
And when the glorious day shall dawn, and an ex- 
mt world is ab.»ut to step across the threshold 
of the millennium, we may believe that the last faint 

of suffering humanity will be answered by a 

ive sympathy round the gl< >l» . 



Fellowship o* Chrises Suffering, 75 

I At US carry from the sermon one truth, precious 

to the heart thai has recognized some of its own 
experiences in this stud}-. In the sharing of suffer- 
ings there is a mighty and marvelous power that 
knits heart to heart. Lives seem to flow together 
and melt into one under the influence of the fiery 
solvent of adversity. The good fellowship that 
springs like a mushroom from the soil of common 
interests and common success, as quickly perishes 
when conditions change. But the fellowship born 
of common suffering is as strong as love and as en- 
during as memory. The surviving soldiers of a 
gallant regiment, sharing the hardships of the 
march, the privations of the prison and the horrors 
of the field, have a fellowship that survives even 
the firing of the salute at the grave. Those who 
constitute the sturdy "remnant" of some great re- 
form, standing together against the majority with 
stone-wall fortitude, or moving together with con- 
fident courage in the charge against overwhelming 
odds, belong to each other by the clear title of fel- 
lowship in sufferings. The friends who have walked 
together in the darkness; who have mingled their 
tears in common sorrow ; who have leaned in times 
of weakness upon each other's strength; find their 
hearts cemented together in lasting union. Thus 



76 Tin; Higher Ritualism. 

the discipies of Christ, so filled with His Spirit that 
they think His tl mething of His emo- 

tions, and endeavor t«> carry on His work in the 

llffering world, may reverently think of 
their relation to Christ and repeat those words of 
fellowship made sacred by USC in the assembly of 

pie : 

" We share our mutual WO 
Our mutual burdens ; <e.ir." 



IV. 

THE MISSION OF THE LITTLE CHILD. 

"And a little child shall lead them." — Lsa. ii, 6. 

The little child holds high rank in the kingdom 
of heaven. The ancient prophet of Judah, voicing 
the national hope of the chosen people, found it em- 
bodied in a child with a great mission : "Unto us 
a child is born, unto us a son is given : and the gov- 
ernment shall be upon His shoulder : and His name 
shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty 
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. " 
Centuries afterward the angel of the Lord again an- 
nounced the coming of a little child with a gracious 
ministry : "And she shall bring forth a son, and 
thou shalt call His name Jesus : for He shall save 
His people from their sins." In anticipation of the 
birth and the office of the little child, priestly Zach- 
arias sang his Benedictus ; Mary lifted up her voice 
in the exultant strains of the Magnificat ; and the 
aged and lingering Simeon uttered his Nunc Dimit- 
tis. Later, above the Judean plains, the advent an- 

77 



/8 The Higher Ritualism. 

gels broke the silence of the night with their Glorias, 
because a little child had been born in the near-by 
village, and because its coming was the promise of 
peace on earth and good will to men. A typical 
scene of the new regime, thus ushered in, is that of 
the Christ standing with a little child in I lis arms, 
I lis hand resting upon the tiny head in blessing. A 

typical declaration of the new order is found in the 

familiar words: "Sutler the little children to come 
unto Me. and forbid them not; far of such is the 
kingdom of heaven." A typical Command of the 

new movement is that given to the great apostle: 

"Feed my lambs. 91 The latest period of human his- 

was inaugurated by the coming of a little child 
and all events, great and small, of the modern world 
arc dated from a manger cradle. The most popu- 
lar annh civilization is that which cele- 
brates the birthday of a babe. Verily a new and 
beautiful era for childhood dawned at I'ethlehem. 

This tender regard for little children IS a distin- 
guishing feature of the Christian religion. It stands 
in striking contrast to the sentiment and practio 
the time in the Roman world. There the inhuman 
and revolting custom of exposure, or abandonment, 
of poor, female, and defective children had reached 
its climax of horror. Latin literature tells us of the 



Tin: M [SSION 0* tiii: I jtti.k Ch ii.d. 79 

common treatment of the little child. The writers 
of that decadent time throw many a sidelight upon 
the sickening conditions. So debased was the moral 

tone o\ the existing civilization that parental affec- 
tion, one of the most powerful of the natural in- 
stincts, had been subverted to such a degree that 
mulitudes of parents abandoned their new-born chil- 
dren, expecting no better fate for them than death 
by exposure, the evils of slavery, the hell of prosti- 
tution, or murder to furnish the materials for the 
incantations of witches. Against the protests of 
stoic philosophers and rhetoricians, against the 
edicts of the more humane of the Roman emperors, 
and against the outcries of the earliest Christian 
preachers, the practice persisted. It was conquered 
only by the forces turned loose in that social order 
by the Christ, the lover of the little child. The debt 
of childhood to Christianity seems in no wise exag- 
gerated by the words of the author of "Gesta 
Christi," when he declared: "Probably of all prac- 
tical changes which Christianity has encouraged or 
commenced in the history of the world, this respect 
and value for children is the most important, as it 
affects the foundation of all society and government, 
and influences a far distant futun 

JJut beyond that which Christ wrought for child- 



So The Higher Ritualism. 

hood, is the 'ion of our topic, that the little 

child has a function of its own in the life of the 
world. We ordinarily regard the child from the 
viewpoint of parental responsibility. The modern 
world is asking what it ought to do for the chil- 
dren. This is the question so seriously debated by 
mothers 1 clubs and congresses; this is the question 

of the modern Church which, in the spirit of its 

Pounder, takes the little ones up in its arms; this 
is the question of modern society, intent upon re- 
moving every stumbling-block out of the way of 

infant feet. Modern literature, like the Nfagi of 

old, has placed a rich tribute at the feet of child- 

The | r the cradle and trie- to 

interpret, with Wordsworth, the passing smiles that 
lighten the sleeping baby face. ( Others, touched 
with the contagion of childlove, have listened to 
their artless prattle, and have reproduced for us the 
day-dreams and quaint fancies of the little ones. 
The words of Amiel, the pensive philosopher, find 
tdy response in the modern heart: "Blessed be 

childhood, which brings down Something of heaven 

into the midst of OUT rough earthliness. These 
eighteen thousand daily births of which statistics 

tell us, represent as it were an effusion of innocence 

and freshness. Struggling not only against tn(> death 



Tin: Mission of THE LITTLE CHILD. 8i 

of the race, but against human corruption and the 
universal gangrene of sin/ 1 And ever the peren- 
nial baby-lover, the young mother, passing rich with 
her new-found treasure, studies the budding life 

clasped in her arms and ponders her sweet and 

strange discoveries in her heart. But while our 

library shelves groan under the weight of volumes 
recording the great deeds of great men ; books tell- 
ing of what men and women have done to ease the 
burdens on weary shoulders and to illuminate the 
pathways of progress for stumbling feet ; books 
warning the adult world of its duty to childhood 
and suggesting the ways and means of its discharge ; 
no one seems to have taken in hand the genial task 
of setting forth the mission of the little child. The 
attempt reveals unexpected riches in material. 

"And a little child shall lead them." The com- 
ment offered by the latest science upon the ancient 
prophecy is more like a fairy tale than the usual dry 
and measured findings of a scientific report. As the 
wise men of the East, representatives of the science 
of their time, under the guidance of the star sought 
the place where an infant lay, so their successors, 
the scientists of the West, seeking knowledge, 
though of a different sort and from a different mo- 
tive, have again been guided to the cradle of the lit— 
6 



82 Tin-: Higher Ritualism. 

tie child. The grave investigator has fallen under 
"the spell of the baby," and is sitting reverently at 
its feet in his search for truth. Using- the historical 
method he goes hack as far as possible towards the 
genesis Of things. The same kind of curiosity that 
turns from the mastodon and places the infusoria 

under the microscope; that deserts the towering 
form of the California redwood to study the lichen 

on the rock : that prompts the geologist to reproduce 

in theory the fin - in the building tip of OUT 

planet; that studies the embryo rather than the de- 
veloped organism; has impelled the Student of man 

to the Study of the child. So rieh and varied is 

the significance of the little child to science that 

!d that it is "a monument of the race" and 

"a k- history/ 1 It is difficult, WC are told, to 

gerate the importance of the little child to the 

ant, for the reason that he finds pre- 
served in its experiences and changes the histor 
primitive man. Even the psychologists have i 

little child in tin- mid>t, fastening attention upon 
LOUSness in the germ, and seeking a richer 
knowledge Of the mind of man by means of the men- 
tal activities of the infant. Here, too, the}- tell tis, 

is reproduced in miniature a r£sum£ of the slow up- 
ward progress of the species, and the unwritten his- 



The Mission of the Little Child. 83 

tory of the race-mind is found in the development 
oi the child-mind. Thus the little child is leading 

the seekers for knowledge, and the old prophecy 
finds an unexpected fulfillment. 

Special interest attaches to the fact that the most 
important contribution made to science by the late 
Professor John Fiske was his exposition of the mis- 
sion of the little child. In his little volume, 'The 
Destiny of Man," he points out that the prolonged 
period of infancy has released man from the bond- 
age of heredity, a bondage so complete in the ani- 
mal world that it forbids all progress, making each 
generation a replica of that which it succeeds. He 
declares that it was the little child that led the par- 
ents away from self, and guided them out into fields 
of thought and action that were not purely self-re- 
garding. He further asserts that with the little 
child there came to the race teachableness, individ- 
uality, and a capacity for progress, which are the 
peculiar prerogatives of the fully developed man. 
Speaking the sober and carefully weighed words of 
science, he affirms that human childhood contains 
"the germ of all that is pre-eminent in humanity/' 
and that it is the guaranty of man's boundless pro- 
gressiveness. How great has been the mission of 
the little child, according to this master of scientific 



84 The Higher Ritualism. 

exposition, let us state in his own words from his 
"Cosmic Philosophy :" "From of old ye have heard 
the monition, 'Except ye be as babes ye can not en- 
ter the kingdom of heaven ;' the latest science now 
shows us — though in a very different sense of the 
words — that unless we had been as babes, the eth- 
ical phenomena which gives all its significance to 
the phrase 'kingdom of heaven/ would have been 
non-existent for us. Without the circumstances of 
infancy, we might have become more formidable 
among animals through sheer force of sharp-witted- 

But except for these circumstances \w should 
never haw- comprehended the meaning of Mich 
phrai •tice' and 'devotion.' The phe- 

nomena 'ild have been omitted from 

the history of the world, and with them the phe- 
nomena oi ethics and religion." After such a state- 
ment as this by an accredited spokesman, let no one 
imagine the ancient prophet guilty of an extrava- 
gance born of religious ecstasy when he says: "And 
a little child shall lead them." 

The Mime high appreciation of the mission of 
the little child characterizes the notable Lowell lec- 
tures by the late ProfeSSOT Henry Drummond, pub- 
lished under the title of "The Ascent of Man." The 
poetry, the science, and the religion of the subject 



Tin: Mission oi tni Lniu. Child, 85 

arc beautifully commingled. In a chapter, bearing 
the startling caption, "The Evolution of a Mother" 
— a chapter that is unique iii literature — he describes 

in detail the mission of a little child. Reversing 

the common conception of the child as the offspring 
of the mother, he describes the function of the little 

child as the prime factor in producing - the mother. 
This is declared to be the most stupendous task ever 
committed to the hands of evolution. The mother 
is nature's supreme achievement. All the processes 
of organic nature looked forward to this one great 
end, and at the top of the scale of animal life you 
find the mothers. "Ask the zoologist/' says the au- 
thor, "what, judging from science alone, Nature 
aspired to from the first, he could but answer Mam- 
malia — mothers." 

But by what means was this consummation 
achieved ? To what factor, from the scientist's point 
of view, is the world indebted for the mother? With- 
out hesitation the answer is given : "To create 
motherhood and all that enshrines itself in that holy 
word, required a human child." This human neces- 
sity finds its explanation in the fact that among the 
lower animals the children are not really children 
at all ; they are merely and literally offspring — 
Springer S-off J their advent is followed by imme- 



86 The Higher Ritualism. 

diate desertion; in quick forgetfulness of their ma- 
ternity they set up in the business of life for them- 
selves. The influences that radiate from the child 
after birth, which arc the creative human influences, 
arc wholly lacking. To give these opportunity is 
needed the prolonged period of infancy. In Pro- 
fessor Drummond's own words: "No greater day 

ever dawned for evolution than this on which the 
first human child was born. For then entered into 

the world the one thing wanting to complete the 

ascent of man — a tutor for the affections." Beyond 
this even 3 the mi>M<'ii of the little child. Cit- 

ing the fact that "it is the mature opinion of every 

one who has thought UpOH the history of the world, 

that the thing of highest importance for all times 

and to all nation oily life." the author makes 

statements, startlingly significant. The first is 

that hah}' fingers bound together the two essential 

elements in the creation of home; that the father 
and mother have been United and are held in holy, 

lasting, heart-to-heart union only in the love of a 

little child. The second Statement, a continuation of 
the first, based On the history of the family, is to the 
effect that love for children is always a prior and a 

stronger thin-- than love between parents. In brief, 

it is the dictum of modern science that the physical, 



Tin: Mission ot the Little Child. 87 

social, civil, and moral redemption of the human 
race waited for the coming of a little child. In the 
beginning of human history, multiplied millenniums 

away from its goal, it was evidently written: "And 
a little child shall lead them." 

The mission of the little child IS not exhausted in 
the broad outlines already given. Beyond its func- 
tion as a factor in social evolution ; beyond the doc- 
trine of the Incarnation, whose content is the mis- 
sion of the little child in redemption ; beyond these 
things is the ministry of childhood in the personal 
life. Here it is first of all our privilege to think of 
the little child as a gift of God, a messenger of 
heavenly love, a token of divine favor. We cherish 
the thought that in the fullness of time God sent the 
human child to start the race upon its journey of 
progress, for "evolution is God's way of doing 
things," and He furnishes forces and factors. We 
believe that God sent the Bethlehem babe, "for God 
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten 
Son, that wdiosoever believeth in Him might not 
perish, but have everlasting life." Then God save 
us from the pitiful skepticism which doubts that 
the fresh stream of infancy continually flowing into 
an ever-a^ing world, comes from the hand of Him 
who is the Giver of every good gift! These little 



88 The: Higher Ritualism. 

ones of our own hearts and homes come to us on a 
mission divine. Poetry has clothed this beautiful 
truth in words that are as "apples of gold in pic- 
tures of silver." Thus Wordsworth, in his ode Oil 
"Immortality xibes the nativity oi our babes: 

"Not in entire fbrgetftdn< 

And not in utter nakedness, 

But trailing clou to we coma 

an God, who is our home ; 

IK at us in our infancy." 

Faith, as expressed in the old Hebrew hymn, 

in the little child a messenger of divine low: 

"Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the 

fruit of the womb is His reward." Revelation, as 
it fell from the lips of the Christ, makes the same 
gladly .solemn announcement: "And lie took a 
child ami set him in the midst of them; and when 
He had taken him in His arms, he said unto them, 
Who* shall receive One of such children in My 

name, receiveth Me; and whosoever shall receive 
Me. receiveth not Me. but Him that sent Me." Lei 
tis believe that it was a true instinct that led the 
Childless Hebrew wife of old to feel that she had 

been denied the coronal glory of womanhood; that 
influenced her to lay her sorrow on the altar of 
God's bouse, and to pray for a little child as a mark 



Tin; M [SSION <>r 1 11 i; 1 , 1 1 1 1.1; Cn iu>. 

of divine favor; that caused her to welcome her 
babe as a gift from above and t<> give it the name 

Samuel — "heard of the Lord;" that brought her 

back to the holy place t<> lay her sacrifice of thanks- 
giving on the altar jeweled with her tears. 

The speechless babe brings its own message of 
love from the Father in heaven to the mother and 
father of earth. The child, in itself, is a token of the 
divine desire to bless the home into which it comes. 
The child, in itself, is the divinely appointed means 
by which the wife shall taste the highest joy that 
comes to womanhood. The child, in itself, is the 
factor by which the lives of mother and father are 
enriched and made complete. The child, in itself, 
is the assurance that Christ comes knocking at the 
door of the home. And if we have fallen upon a 
time when the little child is not welcome in our lives ; 
if it is becoming- increasingly true that its high mis- 
sion is not appreciated ; if in the present social con- 
ditions increasing luxury, engrossing business, love 
of pleasure, and desire for ease shut the door of the 
so-called home in the face of the little ones, we have 
fallen upon a time when men and women are wrong- 
ing their own souls, and are missing the beatitude 
of the parent. 

This truth is emphasized when we consider the 



90 The Higher Ritualism. 

ministry of childhood in another aspect. The inter- 
pretations of the passage, of which our text is a 
fragment, swing between far extremes. Some, like 
Dr. George Adam Smith, insist that the statements 
must be understood literally; that when Isaiah 
speaks of beasts he mean- beasts: that the conflict 
between man and the animal, like the alienation of 
man from God and the antagonisms of man and his 
fellows, will disappear under the benign influences 

of the Messianic reign. The key to the words of 
Paul, "The earnest expectation of the creature wait- 
eth for the manifestation of the sons of God," is 
found in the prophecy that light relations between 

man and beast will be restored only by the proa 

Of redemption. On the contrary, there are those 

who present an allegorical interpretation. When 

we read that "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, 
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. and the 
calf with the lion, and a little child shall lead them," 

they refuse to accept a zoological meaning. They 

argue that it is not the purpose of the prophet to 

ribe the effi redemption on animal life. 

But we are to Bee in the wolf, the leopard, and the 

lion representatives of the cruel and violent appe- 
and passions of human nature. These wild 

beasts are appropriate figures in which an imagina- 



Tin: M ISSION 0* 1 'in; LITTLE CHILD, 91 

tion. not Oriental in its type, might set forth the 
malevolent forces at work in society. 'Phis pas 
according to this view, is a Gospel promise that 
these preying and destroying tempers will be sub- 
dued under the reign of the Prince of Pea 

Without pausing to choose between these inter- 
pretations, either of which adds new desire to our 
prayer, "Thy kingdom conic," we simply mark the 
fact, witnessed by experience and observation, that 
the little child does exercise what may be reverently 
and without exaggeration called a regenerating in- 
fluence. Regeneration means to us being "born 
again" into a higher life. Thus we are ''born again" 
into the kingdom of God. But there are other trans- 
formations in experience analogous to the great 
change by which a man becomes a new creature in 
Christ Jesus. Human nature is charged with la- 
tent capacities and possibilities. They are not de- 
veloped at birth, but must be awakened to life and 
incited to action by outside influences. This is true 
of many of our affections. The true husband lives 
a higher life than the solitary man, and the true 
wife knows a higher life than the single woman. 
But we are not born husbands and wives; in attain- 
ing this higher life we are "born again." Man be- 
comes a true husband and woman becomes a true 



92 The Higher Ritualism. 

wife when the conjugal affections, hitherto dormant, 
are quickened into life by the touch of another human 
spirit. Above the man is the husband, and above 
the husband is the father. Above the woman is the 
wife, ami above the wife is the mother. But the 
parent is not born. Kike the Christian he must be 
born again. We do not come into life equipped with 
parental affection except in capacity. The physical 

and spiritual possibilities of fatherhood and mother- 
hood may be present, but in the absence of the little 
child we can never enter the kingdom of parental 
love. We arc led through the gates of this earthly 
paradise by infant hand-. Baby fingers place the 
crown of motherhood upon every woman's brow. 

Who will deny this transforming influence of 
the little child? Under the touch of infant life the 
merry girl is transformed into a Madonna— a holy 
mother; charming with the beauty of girlhood, she 
::ies radiant with the glory of motherhood. Her 
chastened face glows with the light of a great love, 

the purest and Strongest next to the- love of God. 

Then come thoughtfulness, and sympathy, and pa- 
tience, and sacrifice, with a beauty of their own, more 
compelling and enduring than the mere physical 
charm of budding womanhood. Since day unto day 

uttereth such speech of the perpetual ministry of 



Tin; M [SSION 0* 1 in: I,i'i"ii i; Cn ii.p. 

the little child, we read with fresh appreciation the 
words of Professor Drummond: "When the first 
mother awoke to her first tenderness and wan 
her loneliness at her infant's love, when for ;i mo- 
ment she forgot herself and thought upon its weak- 

or its pain, when by the most imperceptible act 
or sign or look of sympathy she expressed the un- 
utterable impulse of motherhood, the touch of a 
new creative hand was felt upon the world." [t is 
the little child, too, that transforms the mere man 
into the higher product of a father. The evolution- 
ist tells us that when nature undertook to make 
fathers out of lawless savages the task was com- 
mitted to infant hands. That service, accomplished 
for the race, is repeated in greater or less degree 
for the individual man. The love for his new-born 
child counteracts the nomadic instincts of man's 
primitive ancestors and holds him within the soft- 
ening atmosphere of home. The same regenerat- 
ing influence quickens his protective and fostering 
instincts, wakens mighty affections in his heart, 

als to his wondering gaze unsuspected depths of 
tenderness in his nature, gives a permanent impulse 
to industry, and produces qualities of character in 
masculine nature that arid beauty to strength as the 



94 The Higher Ritualism. 

art of olden times placed lily work upon the tops of 
the pillars. 

The mission of the little child, in thus giving us 
mothers and fathers and laving the foundations of 
home, reaches from this domestic center to a social 
circumference that would carry us too far a-field in 
its exploration. We mav only mention the SUgJ 
ive fact that Mr. Spencer and others have indicated, 
how the direct influence <>f the little child, exerted 
in the limited sphere of the household, has reacted 
upon tile social ufTcctions of the race and has been 
a factor in developing our pitifulness for all weak 
and helpless things. The child is not a pauper bur- 
dening the charity of the world; it is an angel of 
the grace of God bestowing exceeding abundantly 

beyond value received 

Reluctantly putting to one side other tempting 

phases of this fascinating subject we give considera- 
tion t0 ju^t one more. Thus far we have traced a 
Sweeping movement, extending all the long way 
from the nethermost depths of savagery to the up- 
permost heights of parental affection, where the 
mountain peaks of our humanity seem to catch the 
glow of light from another world. In the pages of 
the book of life already turned we have found, to 
qtiote the happy phrase of Drummond, "a love 



Tin: Mission o* the i.nn.i; Child. 95 

story." What IS the nature of the dosing chapter? 

- it end as all low stories ought to end? Our 
first thought answers with a negative. The little 
child, nestling in our arms or climbing upon our 
knees, is not a permanent possession. We lo.se our 

children in two ways. They grow to manhood or 
womanhood, or, lingering- long enough to grip our 
hearts with their dimpled fingers, they die. Over 
every bright and beautiful scene upon which our 
eyes have rested in this panoramic survey the 
shadow of death falls ^oon or late. One of the mys- 
teries of nature is the profusion of blossoms that 
never fulfill the promise of fruit. One of the bit- 
terest mysteries of human experience is Rachel 
weeping for her children. When the little child 
passes on into the invisible does that mean only the 
frustration of awakened hopes, the beneficent pur- 
pose unfulfilled, the end of its mission? The human 
judgment is witnessed by the marble column broken 
in twain, a symbol by which we declare that the life 
was unfinished; that the career was only a frag- 
ment. But the popular verdict, based simply on 
duration in time is worthless. Threescore years 
and ten do not complete a life. Though we labor 
until we bend under the weight of years; though we 
climb to the la>t round of ambition's ladder; though 



96 The Higher Ritualism. 

we drink to the last drop of the cup of joy ; we leave 
behind us unfinished work and carry with us un- 
realized ideals. History gives record of but one 
career that could he signalized at its close by the 
Is, "It is finished," and that was the life of a 
young man. 

We are prone to omit a factor from the problem. 
There IS another life. Beyond time stretches eter- 
nity; over the earth ri>es heaven; beyond life lies 
immortality. We are pilgrims marching through 

mortality toward immortality following the Star of 

hope. Here we have no continuing city, but we 

oiu- to cine. The event of the little child's trans- 
planting must be viewed in its relation to two 

worlds. Just as God sent his angel of life, in the 

guise () f the babe, to CT< ate the family and to found 

the home on earth fair and full of promise, may we 
not believe that the child has a mission in leading 

OUr reluctant feet toward the eternal home in heaven, 
and fitting US for the higher life that dwells therein; 3 
Are we not entitled to the comfort of the poet's calm 

trust: 

" That Lift is ever lord of Death, 

And Love can never lose its own !" 

For we can not rest in the thought of broken lines 
of progress. All these great world-processes, lead- 



Tin: Mission o* the Littu Child. 97 

ing ever to higher and yet higher life, come to a 
pitiful anti-climax if they terminate at the tomb. 
It is the reassuring message of our time, as it has 
been the burden of the Gospel from the beginning, 

that death serves the end of life. And when we re- 
member that our Lord, comforting His disciples in 
prospect of their coming bereavement, said, "It 
is expedient for you that I go away," may not that 
same loving purpose be fulfilled in other losses? If 
the Christ could do more for His loved ones by de- 
parting than by longer walking at their side, may 
it not be true that the little child's ministry of bless- 
ing is continued after it passes through the gates? 
This has been the blessed lesson many have been 
taught in tears and loneliness. The little child 
comes to the home, and love stands at the door with 
its welcome. It touches hearts with a heavenly 
magic. Hosts of pure and mighty affections spring 
into being. Love guards the cradle and happiness 
sits at the fireside. But another day and the little 
minister returns to "the service of the inner shrine." 
But, thank God, the babes can not go back to 
heaven and leave us as though they had never come 
into our lives. The new-born affections do not die. 
There are no cemeteries where sorrowing mothers 
and fathers bury love under withering flowers. 
7 



98 Tin: IIlCllKR Ritualism. 

Then comes a new ministry. The darling in the 
home adds to our peace and contentment here ; hnt 
the little one in heaven becomes a magnet drawing 

its lovers upward. Those who have thought of 

heaven as a foreign country now sit to hear what 
the faithful Witness reveals of its glories. The 
Christ has a claim uj n as we think 

Him as taking our own into His tender care. 
We grope in the darkness of sorrow along the way 

the little fret havt Of man}" pilgrims with 

their faces toward the city of God it might he writ- 
ten: "A little child shall lead them." May the 

Father give all bereaved parents th< vision: 

•• \u :«• ifl the p 'Tt.il thou nd, 

1 with thy little hand 

Thou opened tin 

into the future's audi I Land." 



V. 

THE REMEMBRANCER. 

"But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, idiom 
the Father will send in My name, He shall teach 
you all things, and bring to your remembrance 
all that I said unto you." — John xiv, 26. (R. V.) 

A recent writer on psychological subjects pro- 
poses a new definition of memory. It is that de- 
partment of mental life about which everybody has 
been talking for hundreds of years, without telling 
us anything which persons of common sense did 
not already know. The fact of memory lies on the 
surface. From the time of the Greek philosophers 
to the publication of the latest hand-book on psychol- 
ogy, men have described its phenomena and cata- 
logued its conditions. But, while many ingenious 
theories have been offered in explanation of its 
workings, its problems remain unsolved. The best 
account to be given of memory, to date, is that God 
has so constituted us that our minds have this pecul- 
iar power. The best descriptions still distinguish 

99 



1 



ioo The Higher Ritualism. 

its threefold activity of retention, reproduction, and 
recognition. The first of these terms represents a 
sort of photographic quality of mind by which it re- 
tains pictures of past experiences; reproduction in- 
dicates the ability of the mind to make copies from 
a negative once taken; while recognition stands for 
the fact that we are able to refer the copies to their 
originals — to recognize them as reproductions of 
that which we have once seen, Of heard, or felt, or 
thought. 

But, baffled by the mysteries of memory, we 
must acknowledge the fundamental importance of 

its practical functions. 1' :itial to all intelli- 

• t mental activity. Without memory we could 

maintain no sovereignty over the province of the 

past. Tto g moment, or, to speak more ac- 

curately, about ten ft Lid he the measure 

of known exi each separate instant would 

he a lifetime, with no connection with aught before 
or after; wisdom, the product of the pacing years, 
could never reach its harvest time; and history 

uld perpetually perish at the moment of its birth. 

Without memory there could be no such thing as 
individual experience. The materials out of which 

it is built would he taken from tis at the instant of 
production; events would leave no more impression 



Tii i: 1\i:m i:\! BRANC8R. i ( >' 

upon us than is made b) the passing moon upon the 
placid waters of the lake; and, hence, there could be 
no organization of the products of past feeling, 

thought, and sense into anything entitled to be 

known as experience. Without memory there could 

be no development of the individual. The child 
would never be able to conquer the alphabet; the 

artisan would have to begin each moment to learn 
his trade anew ; and the scholar could never put 
more than one foot across the threshold of the tem- 
ple of knowledge. Without memory all human re- 
lations would be disrupted. The mother would im- 
mediately lose sight of her babe ; the husband part- 
ing from his wife would meet her again as an utter 
stranger; friendship would be eternally banished 
from the land of forgetfulness ; and "the commun- 
ion of the saints" would be nothing but a meaning- 
phrase. Without memory there could be no 
moral character. Duty would cease to exist where 
the knowledge of obligation, like Noah's clove, could 
find no resting place in the life; the occupation of 
conscience, with its approval of the right and its 
condemnation of the wrong, would be gone if the 
mind kept no record of the deeds done in the body; 
while attainment would forever fly before us like a 
startled wild bird at the sound of approaching foot- 



102 The Higher Ritualism. 

steps. Without memory man would be literally a 
lost soul. There would be no basis left even for 
personal identity, for memory alone can certify to 
US the fact that we have existed at any previous 
moment. 

Few studies are more interesting than those 
which have to do with the religious (unctions of 

natural faculties. Such in - are also prac- 

tical. They bring religion down from the upper air 

and domesticate it in the very heart of life. In one 
vital aspect salvation is a human achievement. 

Worku ur own n brings every faculty 

Our nature into action. Seeing how life, in all 

rich and high significance! hangs upon the benefi- 
cent ministry of memory, we realize that this mar- 
velous facult) holds an important office in the 
demption. The description of the 

functions of memory already given indicates its i 

ligioUS Uses. The Christian is vitally related to the 

perience, to development, t«» social inter- 

. and t<» moral character, and these relations 

depend on memory. We an-, therefore, gratified to 

find amon-- the treasures of our religion an aid to 

memory. This is offered in the prophetical prom- 
ise of otir text: "But the Comforter, even the Holy 
Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, he 



Tin: Remembrancer. 103 

shall . . . bring to your remembrance all that I .said 

unto you." Like all promises and prophecies, this One 
must be studied in the light of history and expe- 
rience. Thus we trace the fulfillment of the proph- 
ecy and confirm our faith in the promise. 

This pledge of necessity, had a peculiar and 
unique relation to the little circle of hearers who 
heard it for the first time. We have a reasonable 
expectation of finding- the first fulfillment of its 
prophecy in their experience. Looking backward 
we can see the imperative necessity of such a pro- 
vision in their case. Those men were to be forever 
the teachers of the whole world in things pertaining 
to Christ. They were to preach His Gospel. They 
were to produce His literature. They were to meet 
His antagonists. Their minds were to be the de- 
positories of the historic and didactic materials of 
Christianity. As witnesses to Christ a primary 
necessity would be fidelity of recollection. In view 
of their high mission no imaginable aid could be of 
greater value than the gift of special remembrance. 
Without such assistance they would surely fail to 
make a faithful report of the Lord's teachings, or 
to give to the world an adequate narrative of His 
3 Dean Alford has said: "It is on the ful- 
fillment of this promise to the apostles that their 



104 The: Higher Ritualism. 

sufficiency as witnesses of all the Lord did and 
taught, and consequently the authenticity of the 
Gospel narrative, is grounded." By virtue of this 
promise we read the Gospel teachings with confi- 
dence, and tot receive as authoritative their expan- 
sion and explanation in the epistles. We have here 
a voucher for something higher than human mem- 
ory and human reflection in their contents. 

The value of the promise can be appreciated only 

in the light of existing conditions. A fundamental 

SSity f<»r this reminding Office of the Spirit is 

Beet! to exist in the disciples th. j, They had 

been receiving a preparatory education for their 
stupendous task. Their training began after they 

had reached adult years. Their receptive powers 
had been weakened by acquired habits of thought, 
by the prejudices of a different education, and by 
the tradition^ <>f a splendid history. In the pres- 
ence of ChfiSt they found themselves in a new and 
strange atmosphere. They MOVe through the Gos- 
pel pages in a BOll of spiritual stupor. It is a com- 
monplace that they did not understand the words of 
Christ. They grossly misconceived ]|i. divine mis- 
sion. Their ideals were of tin earth, earthy. The 
part they play in the four Gcfepels does not arouse 
-lightest admiration for their intellectual abili- 



Tin; 1\j:m i:\ir.i' r<>s 

ties or spiritual qualities. They were certainly un- 
pronritung material out of which to produce world 
leadership. 'The superficial reader can understand 

that tome great transformation must have taken 
place in the disciples before they hecanie tit v< 
irry the heavenly treasure to all mankind. 
But such were the students in that traveling 
theological school as they finished their three years' 
course. Does any one ask Why the Master did not 
have them thoroughly equipped for their work when 
He delivered His valedictory address in the upper 
room? The answer is simplicity itself. The acqui- 
sition of knowledge depends upon two factors — 
the ability of the teacher and the capacity of the 
pupil. The primary question in education is not, 
How much does the teacher know ? but, How much 
can the scholar grasp? The simple communication 
of so much truth does not make the recipient imme- 
diately and proportionately knowing. Knowledge 
is a growth, and not a hypodermic injection. The 
teacher must always adjust himself to the attain- 
ments and the ability of the disciple. The great 
Teacher observed the fundamental laws of devel- 
opment and progress in the training of those who 
were to be His successors in bringing men to the 
knowledge of God. 



106 The Higher Ritualism. 

This accommodation to the limited capacity of 
the disciples is sometimes stated in the narrative in 
so many words. In this last discourse the Master 
said to them : "I have many things to say unto you, 
but ye can not bear them now." The metaphor is 

that of a crushing weight which might be placed 

upon physical weakness. The limitation was not in 

the knowledge of the Teacher, but in the capacity 
of the taught The reticence- was born of a loving 
consideration for human frailty. There were some 

revelations they COUld not 1., me in the earlier 

f their instruction* Su] that in their 

- they had und that the new move- 

ment would result in the eclipse of the Mosaic dis- 

:;. the discontinuance Of the ancient forms 

of worship, and the death of the national hop f 

visible empii Devoted ] uld only stand 

BUCh a revelation when girded with the new spirit- 
ual powei hristianity, and when their old pa- 
triotism had risen to the higher devotion of the 
lom of God Suppose that, in their bigotry and 

prejudice, they had realized the catholic natti: 

the new order; that the kingdom of Christ would 
admit Gentili s privileges on equal terms; that 

the blo«,d of Abraham would give no advantage to 

those who made it their pride and boast? That 



The Rem bmbrancer. i ( >7 

truth had to be communicated to Peter in a heav- 
enly vision. Only when thoroughly committed to 

Christ and filled with His Spirit, were they ready to 
throw wide open the gates of salvation and cry, 
"Whosoever will." Even when the note of univer- 
sality was sounded by way of remembrance, a strug- 
gle ensued before Christianity gained recognition 
among the disciples as anything larger than a Jew- 
ish sect. The new lesson, like the ancient law, was 
weak through the flesh. 

The method of the instruction, governed by the 
conditions just described, also emphasizes the im- 
portance of the office of remembrance committed 
to the Spirit. The teaching of our Lord was not 
methodical. Only a limited part of it was in set 
discourses. Its treasures are found in personal inter- 
views, transient conversations, puzzling paradoxes, 
occasional repartee, responses to appeals, corrections 
of errors, answers to questions, denunciations of 
wickedness, consolations of affliction, and sympathy 
with sorrow. One of the Master's favorite forms 
of instruction is the parable. This both reveals and 
conceals the truth. An exposition of a parable was 
rarely given. They waited to unfold their stores of 
information by the way of remembrance. In keep- 
ing with this purpose are words spoken upon this 



108 Tin- Higher Ritualism. 

occasion : ''These things have I spoken to you in 
proverbs ; but the time cometh when I shall no more 
speak unto you in proverbs, but show you plainly of 
the Father." The truths only partially intelligible, 
or wholly forgotten, would in memory reveal the 
hidden meaning with which they were laden. Out 
of this apparent confusion of utterance the Divine 
Remembrancer at a fitting time would bring to mem- 
ory all that had been spoken by the Master. 

One more reason why the efficacy of Christ's 
teach aited upon r em e mbra nce is found in its 

ment of prediction. That which was antici- 
patory most Of necessity defer interpretation until 

vent. The doctrines of Christianity are founded 
upon historical facts. The history deposited the ma- 
terials of the doctrines, and the understanding 
much of the teaching depended upon the comple- 
tion of a course of events still in pn The 

had tO be in hand before thej could be ex- 
pounded or applied. How true this is can be seen 
in a Scriptural statement of a fundamental doc- 
trine: "Christ died for our sins/' "Christ died" — 
that is the historical fad : "Christ died for our sins" 
— that is the Christian doctrine. The doctrine would 
be worthless without the fact ; and the doctrine must 
wait for the fact. This feature of His teaching, as 



The Rem km brancsr. 109 

dependent upon the future, was recognized by 
Christ. Again and again IK- said: "I have told 
you before it come to pass, that when it cornea to 
pass ye may believe." Such cryptic utterances as 
those about the Son of man being lifted up as was 
the serpent in the wilderness, the destruction of the 
Ample and the raising of it again in three days, 
the shedding of His blood for many for the remis- 
sion of sins, the giving - of living water that should 
spring up into eternal life, all needed the future 
event for their elucidation. The perplexity of the 
disciples at the time of the utterance of such state- 
ments was natural under the circumstances. But 
we have their own explanation of how the splendor 
of truth came to their minds later: "When He was 
risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that 
He spake this, and they believed the Scripture and 
the word which Jesus said." And in another con- 
nection they tell us how they came to a knowledge 
of the truth by way of remembrance : "These things 
understood not His disciples at the first, but when 
Jesus was glorified then remembered they that tin 
things were written of Him, and that they had done 
these things unto Him." 

The Acts of the Apostles is a noble commentary 
upon our text. Under the influence of the Spirit 



no The Higher Ritualism. 

that which had been adjourned to a future time of 
remembrance now became living knowledge in the 
minds of the disciples. By virtue of the reminding 
office of the Comforter there came a rich fulfill- 
ment of the Master's prediction: "What I do thou 
knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." 
Under the inspiration of the Remembrancer the 
meanings of Christ's teachings emerged from the 
mists; the spiritual stupidity <»f tlie disciples van- 
ished; the perplexities of their schooldays dashed 
into light: and the dull, slow Students were trans- 
id into energetic, enthusiastic teachers, whose 
words have engaged the reverent attention of the 

'."> best intellect for nineteen centuries. By 

the power of the Spirit the stupid, sluggish follow- 
ers became fearless, forceful leaders, and gave suc- 
ceeding generations a magnificent object lesson of 
Christianity in action. Because of this divine gift 

of remembrance by the Spirit the multitudes beard 
a n< We preaching of the C.< gpel, and the world holds 

in its hands the unique literature which embodies 
the mind of Christ and makes men wise unto salva- 
tion. All the achievements of the apostolic age are 
in evidence a- to the accomplishment of the prophecy 
of the text 

This promise is no! to be regarded as the monop- 



Til I! Rl.M KM UKANU'.K. I r I 

oly of the little circle to which it was immediately 
spoken. The Church universal has appropriated as 
its own the wealth of our Lord's last discourse. 
"Let not your heart be troubled" belongs to us all; 

*'[ go to prepare a place for you" is a personal mes- 
sage to each member oi the household of faith; "I 
will not leave you comfortless" is the consolation of 
all the sons oi God; "My peace I givo unto you" is 
the legacy of all those who trust in Christ. Our 
rights in these exceeding- great and precious prom- 
ises are uncontested. But in the midst of this fare- 
well address is the affirmation of our text: "lie 
shall bring to your remembrance all that I said unto 
you." Consistency will not permit us to designate 
this as a special favor granted to the first disciples, 
and at the same time appropriate all the other gra- 
cious offerings of the same discourse. The promise 
contains no time limit. It carries the assurance of a 
perpetual unfolding of the germinal principles of 
Christ's teaching, both for the Church and for the 
individual. It guarantees a spiritual guidance supe- 
rior to that of an official hierarchy, ecclesiastical tra- 
dition, or general revelation. The living Spirit, 
whose mission it is to glorify Christ, is our Remem- 
brancer. 

The history of the Christian Church pays its 



ii2 The Higher Ritualism. 

tribute to the truth of the text. Its pages disclose a 
persistent tendency on the part of the Church to 
forget essential truths taught by Christ. The psy- 
chologists tell us that those things are best reinein- 

I which are most recent, most interesting, best 
attended to, and most often repeated. With the 

igC of time the teachings of Christ would nat- 
urally fade from memory. With the loss of interest, 
consequent upon failure to maintain the vitaliti* 
Christian experience, the hold Upon fundamental 
doctrines gradually weakens. With lack of atten- 
tion, caused by indifference to duty or by want of 
opportunity to hear, Gorgetfulnesa ^\ the truth fol- 
as the night the day. With the absence of 

:tion, when preacher> CMS* 1" expound the 

-l fundamentals, the] disappear first from the 

experience, and then from the beli< fa of the people. 

All this has actually come to pasfl in the history of 

the Christian centuries. With the lapse of time, the 

of Spiritual life, and the perversions of the 
Church, BOOM of the teachings of Christ have been 
lost to remembrance. The perils of faith have al- 
wavs been from negled within and never from as- 
sault without. 

But Mich losses have not been permanent. The 
records show a perpe tual process of recovery. The 



Tin: Rem km branckr, i 13 

teachings of Christ have been safeguarded by an 
agencj superior to the unaided human memory. The 
resurrection of buried truth is one (, t" the recurrent 
miracles of the years of our Lord. The history of 

Christian doctrine has numerous chapters which are 
luminous commentaries upon our theme. 

Some of the great landmarks of Church history 
hear the inscription of the text in letters of light. 
Witness the Reformation in Europe. The doctrine 
of justification by faith, as expounded by the Apos- 
tle Paul, is found in germ in the teachings of Christ. 
It is among the things which "began to be spoken 
by the Lord.'' It shines like a jewel in the setting 
of the familiar verse : "For God so loved the world 
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life." It is the very essence of the para- 
ble of the Prodigal Son. This doctrine was em- 
phasized and enforced in the apostolic writings in 
such manner that no one would have dreamed, be- 
fore the fact, that it could be lost. But the fifteenth 
century found the Church operating under a system 
from which this fundamental truth was missing. 
Works had usurped the function of faith; penance 
playing the part of repentance; human merit 
was counterfeiting divine grace, and indulgences 
8 



ii4 The Higher Ritualism. 

were on the market as a substitute for the forgive- 
ness of sins. A great Christian doctrine had been 
forgotten. 

But the prophecy of divine remembrance was 
fulfilled. Dr. Martin Luther embodied the genius 
of the mighty religious movement first in his own 
experience. He was reminded that the true ground 
of justification is not works, but faith; lie was re- 
minded that access to God IS not by penance, but 
by repentance ; he was reminded that salvation is 
not secured by human merit, but that it is 
bestowed by divine gr Through Him 

the Spirit -poke to a forgetful world, and 
brought to the remembrance of men the lost 
doctrine of divine \teenth century 

found the world ringing with the good news and 

Germany aflame with zeal in behalf of the recovered 

teaching of Christ. The Reformation was n«»t the 

product of new truth. It was the natural outgrowth 
of the revival in memory and experience of the 
teaching of Christ and the doctrine of the apostles. 
Kindred in its genesis was the evangelical re- 
vival in England in the eighteenth century. The 
influence Of the Reformation was a -pent force. The 
kingdom presented a scene of moral degradation 
and spiritual desolation. It has been described as 



Tin: Ri:m i;m BRANCER. 1 15 

"an age of religion without faith, of politics with- 
out honor, and of life without morality." The in- 
describable depths into which England had fallen 
are mirrored in the literature of the period, but can 
best be seen in Hogarth's pictures and in John Wes- 
ley's journals. The Church was stagnant and so- 
ciety was corrupt. The fox-hunting parson had for- 
gotten his message, and the joy of salvation had dis- 
appeared from the lives of the people. In the Eng- 
land of Wesley's day a Christian doctrine had been 
forgotten. Again the Spirit did His work of re- 
membrance. Luther witnessed to justification by 
faith, but Wesley's message given by the Spirit 
went a step beyond that: "Therefore being justi- 
fied by faith, we have peace with God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by 
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice 
in hope of the glory of God." With his own heart 
"strangely warmed," he was commissioned of the 
Spirit to bring back to the memories of men the lost 
truth of a conscious salvation. It was not a new 
doctrine but the blessed apostolic truth dropped 
from remembrance in a period of spiritual deca- 
dence. 

A striking confirmation of the Spirit's fidelity 
a Remembrancer is seen in the history of the Great 



n6 The Higher Ritualism. 

Commission. So prone is memory to let slip essen- 
tial things that the Church of the living God act- 
ually forgot its business. The last command of our 
Lord, peculiarly binding and sacred, faded from 
remembrance and dropped OUt of the program of 
Christian activity. The duty of going and teaching 
all nations, enjoined under the most solemn and 
impressive circumstances, perished from the mind 

of the Church, The magnificent conception of 
world conquest, embodying the very genius of our 

51 to view. So thoroughly had the 

.-nary idea departed from Christian thinking, 
that, when the Spirit of remembrance found a voice 
in the hero of Paulersburg, a Sydney Smith, a man 
who had received **h< d\ orders." could characterize 

tlie revival of our Lord's farewell commission as 

"the dream of a dreamer who dreams that he has 
been dreaming/ 1 Since that time the Church has 

been stirred up by way of remembrance. As a re- 
sult of the resurrection of the lost teaching of Christ 
the work of the foreign missionary furnished the 
great apologetic of the nineteenth century; the 

w<»rld has witnessed the influence of Christianity in 
contact with heathenism a- it has not been seen since 

the first centuries; and the world-wide activities bear 
witness that the promise of the Lord Jesus has again 



Tin: Ri;.mi;mhkan\ i.K. 117 

been fulfilled. But even now we make a distinction 
between the Christian spirit and the missionary 

spirit, and we still operate missionary societies 

within the Churches and cordially and unsuo 

fully invite professing Christians to unite and co- 
operate in obeying our Lord's last command. 

Noting with profound gratitude the mission of 
the Spirit to memory in these great world move- 
ments, we must not lose sight of the way of remem- 
brance in individual Christian life. It is a signifi- 
cant thing that life's highest lessons are rarely 
learned at the time of event. The experience may 
be most valuable, but its instruction is ministered 
by memory after the event is past. There are many 
things that, like the first disciples, we can only know- 
in remembrance. The reasons for this postpone- 
ment of understanding are readily grasped. Some 
of our most wholesome lessons are taught in the 
school of affliction. But when passing through such 
experiences the mind is agitated and the emotions 
overwhelm judgment. Deliberate reflection, impar- 
tial judgment, clearness of vision, appreciation of 
advantage, are all impossible when the eyes are dim 
and the heart is heavy. The interpretation of God's 
ways must be adjourned until the time when all the 
materials are at hand, and the person interested is 



n8 Tin-: Higher Ritualism. 

in a state of mind qualifying him to deal fairly with 
them. At the time we see through a glass darkly ; 
at first we know only in part, and that part is the 
dark, forbidding aspect Later we may be able to 
say with God's ancient servant : "It is good for me 

that 1 have been afflicted/ 1 The Remembrancer may 

bring to memory the loving message of the event, 
and help US tO recognize the un>een hand of blessing. 

Ar g to the recovery of lost doctrines by 

hurch is the familiar experience of the remem- 

branc tten truth by the individual in some 

hour of need. At the time Christ Spoke in the coun- 
sel* of a father, the instruction of a Sunday-school 
teacher, the example of a friend, or the ministry of 

the pulpit, the no quickly forgotten* But 

not known in his own life the resurrection 

i r of the Spirit in raising buried truth from the 
of forgetf illness ? Words, quickly lost, are 

suddenly remembered and come back with the force 

of conviction. Bible ver es, "committed to mem- 
ory" as a child, return with Startling vividness and 
pOffl We have found such remembrances 

strangely appropriate to our circumstances. Famil- 
iar p. ripture bo thoroughly our prop- 
erty that we can not recall the time we first received 
them, under changed conditions are seen in a new 



RSM8MBRAN< ik) 

light, disclose a larger meaning, and seem like a 
fresh Inspiration from heaven. And who shall say 
that they arc not as long as we have the promise: 
"He shall bring to your remembrance all that I said 
unto you ?" 

Time remains for but one more of the many sug- 
gestions of this rich text. As far as we can judge, 
the prophecy of this passage will never be finally 
fulfilled. Many of the ministries of the Holy Spirit 
will cease. The time will come when He shall no 
more "reprove the world of sin, and of righteous- 
ness, and of judgment," because the day will dawn 
when evcr\ knee shall bow and every tongue confess 
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the 
Father. The time will come when His tender offices 
of comfort will be completed; for God shall gather 
all His people into the new city, and "shall wipe 
away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be 
no more death, neither sorrow 7 , nor crying, neither 
shall there be any more pain." The time will come 
when His function as a teacher shall finally serve its 
divine purpose, and His pupils shall see no longer 
"through a glass darkly." but "face to face;" when 
they shall know no longer in part, but even as also 
they are known. The time will come when His 
sanctifying influences will fully accomplish their 



i2o The Higher Ritualism. 

work ; for there hastens an hour when the sons of 
God shall be like him, their Example, and when 
the body of Christ shall be "a glorious Church, not 
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," and 
shall be presented "faultless before the presence of 
His glory with exceeding joy." But in the courts 

of the heavenly city, through the cycles of eternity, 

there shall be a perpetual remembrance of all Christ 
taught and of all Christ wrought in the work of re- 
demption. This is the burden of "the song of 
es, the servant of Cod, and the SOng of the 
Lamb." And yonder, we may imagine, more than 
here, where earth's clamorous ft often drown 

the still small voice, will this mission of the Spirit 
be blessedly exercised. IK re and there we shall 
know the presence Of the Spirit and shall remember 
the gracious words of love divine. 



VI. 



HIGHER CRITICISM AND HUMAN DOCU- 
MENTS. 

"Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known 
and read of all men; being made manifest that 
ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, 
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the 
living God ; not in tables of stone, but in tables 
that are hearts of 1lesh. ,} — 2 Cor. iii, 2, 3. 

ONE of the signs of our times is the interroga- 
tion mark. It is a symbol of one of the fundamental 
characteristics of the Protestant Reformation. That 
mighty movement was made possible by the his- 
torical spirit. It began with an appeal from the 
ecclesiastical Caesar to the historical Christ. The 
return to the Christianity of Christ was only possi- 
ble by means of the record in the early Christian 
literature. Luther heard the voice of Christ in the 
Scriptures, and wherein he saw that Christ and 
Rome did not agree he was ready to follow Christ. 

121 



122 The Higher Ritualism. 

The attempt to realize the original idea of Chris- 
tianity led to the recovery of the primitive literature 
of the Bible. There was found salvation by grace 
and the primary principle of the Reformation be- 
came justification by faith. Some things were miss- 
ing in the record, SUCh as penances, indulgences, and 
pilgrimages, and a more or less successful effort 
Was made- to discard them. 

The seat of authority in religion was shifted 
from the Church to the Bible ; the Bible was put 
into the hands of the people, and the right to read 
and interpret WZS claimed for all men. As a log- 
ical sequence of justification by faith came the right 

of private judgment in religion. That meant the 

revival of religious liberty, usurped by the Roman 
archy and lost to the Christian world for cen- 
turies. This fruit oi the Reformation has been 

slowly ripening for four hundred Mar-. During 
that time the human mind has been free, but it has 
only gradually entered upon its heritage of liberty. 
With the knowledge of privilege there has devel- 
oped the feeling of responsibility. Not only in re- 

:i, but in all department.- of thought, the his- 
torical spirit has become pre-eminent. Everywhere 

there has been the impulse of original investigation. 

Nothing has been taken for granted. Popery in art, 



Higher Criticism and Human Documents. 123 

science, philosophy, ami literature, as well as in re- 
n, has bem at a discount. 

This historical spirit, limited in its mission at 
the beginning to the discover}' of the meaning and 
immediate u>e of the original Christian documents, 
has enlarged the borders of its activities. It char- 
acterized the work of scholarship in all its investi- 
gations during the nineteenth century. Having re- 
ceived such impulse by its place in the dominant re- 
ligious movement of the last four centuries ; having 
subjected to the most rigid scrutiny the materials 
and sources of secular history ; and having played 
havoc with the traditions of classic literature, it was 
to be expected that it would return to a re-examina- 
tion of the historical literature of the Christian re- 
ligion. The student of history can not ignore the 
Bible, and the lover of literature will linger among 
its treasures. And since revelation has been made 
in history, and the record is preserved in literature, 
the Bible has become the subject of study under the 
changed conditions. The result is wdiat we know 
as "the higher criticism," regarded by some as a 
demon of destruction and by others as a guardian 
angel of truth. 

The terms "lower criticism" and "higher criti- 
asm describe the methods used by ti& new histor- 



124 The: Higher Ritualism. 

ical spirit in the investigation of all ancient litera- 
ture. They are not exclusively the technical terms 
of the modern phases of Bible study. The "lower 
criticism" deals with the text of a document; the 
"higher criticism," after the determination of the 
text, gives us the historical interpretation. Whether 
a certain reading in the drama of "Hamlet" is cor- 
rect, is a question of the "lower criticism," and is 
.settled by appeal to such sources as the first folio 
or the second quarto : but the debate as to whether 

Shakespeare or Bacon wrote "Hamlet" belongs to 

the province of the "higher criticism." The term 
"higher criticism" is purely technical. In the lay 
mind it is likely to generate a double prejudice. 
Criticism, in common USage, is synonymous with 
faultfinding and picking to pieces. The adjective 

"higher" lacks felicity for the reason that it sug- 
s the presumption of superiority. But, tech- 
nically, criticism is a method of knowledge. A 
critic is a kritcs, or judge. A criticism is an Opin- 
ion. HaVing opinions and expressing them we are 
all critics in ordinary. Criticism in literature stands 
for careful, patient examination. The use of the ad- 
jective "higher" is purely incidental. It grew out of 

the fact thHt • ie preparatory work- of arranging a 
ptire text (rejecting interpolations! supplying omis- 



Higher Criticism and Human Documents. [35 

saons, and adjusting; transpositions)! is called the 

"lower." because preparatory, criticism. But when 
the imperfections of the text, common in ancient 
manuscripts, because of the carelessness of copyists 

and other causes, have been eliminated as far as 
able from the document, then the "higher" task 
of the critics is imposed. 

Bible students are under a heavy debt of obliga- 
tion to the "lower" critics. The scholars of Ger- 
many and England, who have devoted their ener- 
gies to the justification of the text, are unknown to 
the majority of the devotional readers of the Scrip- 
tures. Much of their work to date, however, has 
been given to the public in the Revised Version. 
The "higher criticism," in contrast, studies the Bible 
as a great literature covering centuries of time. It 
applies the accepted principles and canons of his- 
torical research to the various documents. It deals 
with problems of date, authorship, integrity, literary 
form, and credibility. It asks concerning a docu- 
ment : Who was the author? When was it writ- 
ten? What were the circumstances of its produc- 
tion? Is it preserved in its integrity? If there 
have been changes, can it be restored to its original 
form? Is it trustworthy in statement? Is it con- 
firmed or discredited by Other sources of informa- 



126 The Higher Ritualism. 

tion? Is it prose or poetry, and what is its literary 

form under this general classification? These and 

similar questions belong to the "higher criticism." 

It is apparent that in the held it covers it ia very 

much a new name for an old thing. These questions 

have always been d: by the Christian apolo 

i, and specifically dealt with, in more recent 

times, by the authors of "Biblical Introduction." 

The difference IS not in the ground covered by the 
"higher criticism" as much as it is a difference in 
spirit and method. It is also apparent that the 

"higher criticism" is to be regarded as an instru- 
ment ()i historical investigation, and no! as a defi- 
nite body of ascertained results. The term is fre- 
quently used as if it represented an a 

rial antagonistic to the Christian religion. The 
fact is that its theori tentative, and the spirit 

of order has nut yet reduced its chaOS. It should 
also be borne in mind that the value of any instru- 
ment depends Upon the User. The Apostle Paul 
I that law was good if used lawfully. The 
maxim is of universal application. It is equally 
true of an ax <»r Of the "higher criticism." The ax 
can be used for clearing a field OT building a church ; 
or it can be made instrumental in the destroying of 
a -brine or in the murdering of a man. Thus, too, 



Higher Criticism and Human Documents. 127 

with the historical method of interpreting the Bible. 
The use depends upon tin user, [f a scholar conies 
to the study of the Scriptures with invincible un- 
belief in the supernatural; with settled conviction 
as to the impossibility of miracle; with a fixed de- 
termination that everything in the records shall be 
accounted for by natural causes; his attitude is not 
only unscientific, but his work is sure to be destruct- 
ive. Thus we have destructive and constructive 
workers in "higher criticism/' and the whole move- 
ment bears the odium attaching* to the work of the 
former. 

What shall be our attitude? We can not escape 
the fact that a portion of divine revelation has come 
to us in the form of ancient documents. The Bible 
is an historical literature, and if w r e gain a genuine 
knowledge of it we must study it as literature. In 
this study the Bible asks fairness and not favors. 
The intelligent believer in the Book will not demand 
that it be exempted from the rules of evidence ap- 
plied to other books. Objection to the closest scru- 
tiny of the genuineness of the records is an evi- 
dence of skepticism and not a token of faith. Crit- 
ical inquiry has full rights in applying the same 
tests of authenticity and credibility to the Scriptures 
that are used in dealing with other literatures. 



128 The Higher Ritualism. 

Biblical h. tion may be inspired by what 

has been called "the demon oi criticism;" it may be 
carried on by those who are hopelessly committed 
to hostile preconceptions; it may misapply fair prin- 
ciples and refuse value to essential (acts; and it may 
exhibit such a fanaticism of unbelief and such icono- 
clasm of pUT] make the term a stench in 

the i. scholarship. Even so, we have 

no authority rbid tres] But we have 

faith, scholars of unquestioned ability, 

who know how to d: :" wood, hay, and stubble. 

been an attack upon the Serip- 
- that has pot reacted in augmenting their au- 
thority. While the battle of the giants continues 

there are only two things possible for Christian 

le — they must be on guard against error; and 
tlie>' mUSt be read> to welcome the truth wherever 

it presents its credentials. The triumph of truth is 
the most comforting promise oi God and the most 

>n of history. In all the centuries past 

the enemy has never captured an essential position 

.erthrown a vital doctrine. In the meantime 
there mu>t be fair play, and those who, by n 

of scholarly qualification and Christian experience, 

represent US in the conflict are entitled to sympathy 

and encouragement. 



Higher Criticism and Human Documents. 129 

At present the existing results seem to demand a 

suspension of judgment. As an enthusiastic disci- 
ple of the school of "higher criticism" recently 

wrote: "To the scholars that have been over the 
ground nothing- is so certain as that there is much 
that is uncertain." The critics are not agreed among 
themselves. Our attitude of fairness and our readi- 
ness to welcome truth do not mean that we are pre- 
pared to adopt half-baked theories or to swallow 
blood-raw conclusions that are the offspring of in- 
decent haste. If we are not entitled to consign 
"higher criticism" to the limbo of disrepute because 
of the extraordinary differences in conclusions, 
when men arc supposedly using the same critical 
principles, we certainly can not be asked to accept 
divergent results. Noticing the disagreements of 
the "higher critics," we can not help sympathizing 
somewhat with the strictures of Andrew Lang at 
the time of the publication of the Polychrome Bible. 
Speaking of the "polychrome" opinions of the crit- 
ics, he wrote in an English review : "No color-box 
would contain pigments enough to print the con- 
tending opinions of the critics withal, if one offered 
a polychrome manual of criticism." But any satis- 
faction, born of such confusion of opinion among 
the critics, must be tempered by appreciation of 
9 



130 Tin: HlGHEB Ritualism. 

the fact that there is nothing approaching identity 
of belief on all subjects among Christians anywhere. 
Godly men are still praying tor the unity of the 

faith. It remail SS OUT SOUls in patience 

until that which the "higher criticism" holds in so- 
lution is precipitated, with an abiding faith that the 
final deposit will be wholesome. The pi 

elimination is continually going On, and is Mire to 

leave a residuum of values. 

Pending the OUtCOme Of critical dialectics in 

dealing with the ancient documents, what remains 
for those who do not possess the necessarj appara- 
rk? The questions debated by the 
nd the reach of individual investi- 
:i for the great majority. Only a few have 
the time, the training, and the tools for such lal 
only a few have a • and old- 

world libraries where the manuscripts arc pre- 
served; only a few can master the necessary sciences 
and lang [v&re facility in deciphering 

ancient documents; oni\ a few can gain a first-hand 
knowledge of the disputed questions of probable 
authorship, < original materials, and post-editing ; 
only a few can distinguish the products of various 
periods finally gathered into the hymn-hook of the 
Jewish synagogue; only a few are qualified to dis- 



Higher Criticism and lit man Documents. 131 

cuss the chronological arrangement of the materials 

in the 1'ook of Isaiah. Where independent investi- 
gation is impossible intelligence on these and simi- 
lar questions must wait on the toil of the specialists. 

"And God hath set some in the Church" who are 
teachers. 

In the interval those who do not possess the 
special critical apparatus have a literature of reve- 
lation that can be "known and read of all men.'' 
For Christianity is not exclusively a book-religion. 
The Bible, of such priceless value in giving" us the 
historical Christ and God's ways of revealing Him- 
self in the past, is only one method of revelation. 
The primary unveiling of spiritual truth has never 
been given to man on paper. The characteristic 
method of God is to make Himself known in life 
and history. This is the highest revelation, and its 
study is the highest criticism. As expressed by 
some one, we not only have "Thus saith the Lord/' 
but we also have "Thus doth the Lord." There are 
Gospels of Christ in personal experience. There 
are Acts of the Apostles wherever men live and 
work in the power of the Spirit. There are "living 
epistles" of the twentieth century as well as Epis- 
tles of Paul of the first century. There is an Apoc- 
alypse of the Christian centuries as well as the vision 



132 Tin-; HlGHEB Ritualism. 

of John on the Isle oi 5, In a word, there 

are human documents known to us all and contin- 
ually open before our i. Their language of 
h, character, and Conduct, all can read. The 
Bible in llesh and Uood challenges OUT attention and 

ur interpretation. Leaving the higher 

critic, thi . of deciding dates. 

identifying authors, classifying materials, testing 

d tracing relationships in connec- 
tion with written documents, we turn OUT attention 
to tl fundamental BUbje d by the 

We fin .: in the acknowledged 

thai ba il literature, whether sacred or 

fane, there li Life is the only soil pro- 

ducing tl -h. Literature is always and every- 

where tb n uf life. Back of history lie 

the nations; back of biography il found the man; 
hack try dreams the port; and back of 

phet listening to the void 

the father of literature (we use the 
name and title only by courtesy of the crit 

found the n I epics in Greek life 

and tradition. A poem like the Iliad rowtlt 

he 1 1« >n mi was still 

earlier poems, which failed to survive. The * 



Higher Criticism and lh man Documents. 133 

of the people, bom of the universal experiences of 
love, joy, grief, and war, contributed their riches 

to form these literary treasures. The poems them- 
selves are elear and animated pictures of early 
Greek life. Carlyle recognized the priority of life 
to literature when he described Dante as "the voice 
of ten silent centuries/' The "Divine Comedy" was 
the joint product of the Florentine genius and the 
developing life of the thousand voiceless years. Into 
those centuries had been throw r n the leaven of Chris- 
tian doctrine and character, and by their transform- 
ing power the old civilization was passing away and 
a new order was taking its place. The new thought 
and life of Europe sought expression. Dante be- 
came its mouthpiece and gave to the w r orld a reve- 
lation of that life in epic form. Shakespeare also 
exemplifies this truth. Not only was he identified 
with his time and his country, 

"This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England," 

But by what has been aptly called "royal seiz- 
ure, " he confiscated the raw material for his 
work. Not only in historical plays did he gather 
from life, but now that all the plots of his dramas, 
with one exception, have been traced to their sources, 
we discover that he placed the world under tribute; 



i34 The HlGHEB Ritualism. 

he "borrowed from humanity." The drama,- 
Shakespeare's medium, has this in common with the 
epic — it describes life in action. Before we could 
;:ce anything worthy to he dignified by the 

name of American literature, we had to have more 
than a century and a half of American life. There 
are whole regions of the earth from which we expect 

ing in letter> for the simple and sufficient rea- 
son that in those parts no rich, strong lift 
ing utterance. The vast majority i*i individuals 
have no Contribution to make to literature because 
<>f their poverty <>f life. In men. and nations, and 
chSj literature IS th< ::ie of life. 

All this is pre-eminently true of religious lit- 
erature. The Bible is the autograph of life.. There 
first the Hebrew people, and then followed the 
Old Testament writings. If these writings hold a 
unique and supreme in the kingdom of letters, 

because they are the expression of a life with- 
out parallel in the annal> of the race. This is ap- 
parent, of course, in the historical portions, where 
read the narratives of the calling of Abraham, 
the fortui ph, the bondage in Bgypt, the 

wild* [perience, the settlement of Canaan, ami 

subsequent national vicissitudes, But it is also true 



Higher Criticism and Human Documents. 135 

that the higher literary forms of the ancient Scrip- 
lures, such as poetry and prophecy, are the efflores- 
cence of a religious life. Such utterances were born 
of a divine inspiration in the human soul. The old 
Hebrew hymn-book, the Psalter, is a deposit of re- 
ligious experience. It is the fruit of life. Its 
poetry is vital. Its pages reproduce the sorrows, 
the confessions, the fears, the doubts, the anxieties, 
the aspirations, and the thanksgivings of men. Ex- 
perience inspired the utterance of the "Shepherd 
Psalm" with its abandon of trust: "The Lord is 
my Shepherd ; I shall not want." Personal ac- 
quaintance with sin makes known its bitterness in 
the Penitential Psalms. Out of the abundance of 
the heart some mouth declared the consciousness of 
guilt and breathed a longing for forgiveness. There 
was precious personal knowledge back of the grate- 
ful utterance : "Blessed is the man whose trans- 
gression is taken away, whose sin is covered." We 
are confident that the declaration, "God is our 
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble," 
was the overflow of a grateful heart in some hour 
of deliverance. This is a book of life — a life sur- 
charged with exalted religious forces. The lyric 
poets of Greece and Rome gave the world nothing 



136 Tin-: HlOHBB Ritualism. 

like the Hebrew Psalms, for the good reason that 
these people were strangers to such religious thought 
and life as that of Israel. 

The Men Testament literature If likewise the 
product of life. It is a group of books Springing 
up around the central figure oi Christ. It is a reve- 
lation lu ttl the person of Christ and 
sets forth the significance of His appearance in his- 
"In Him wa> life, and the life was the light 
of man." All its various portions must he read in 
the light <>f His life and mission. If the Xew Testa- 
ment is unique anions books and striking in its -in- 
sularity, the secret is fuiind in the life it enshrines. 
( hit of tlie visible life of Christ came the Four I 

in which, ii tod by Rothe, we of to-day 

Me "the historical Christ mi rrored directly upon 

the CODil s of those who surrounded him." 

Ollt of the invisible life Of Christ came what we 
call the Acts of the Apostles — the acts of living 
men inspired by I living Christ. The later didac- 
tic elements, found in the Kpistlo, follow after life 
and history, to explain the life and to elucidate the 
hist 

The living Chlisl was at first the material and 
vehicle of the revelation. He wrote no book. "The 



Higher Criticism and Hitman Documents. 137 

lift was the light of men." That revelation was 
first sent into the world in human documents. Be- 
tween the life of Christ and the life of the world 
there was the mediating life of His disciples. The 
Christian life preceded the Christian documents. 
The truths were lived before they were written. The 
revelation of God's love was first made in the souls 
of living men and later was reduced to writing. 
Like our blessed Lord, the written documents are 
divine-human. Thus back of the first Gospel there 
are both the life of Christ and the life of Matthew, 
and hence we have the Gospel of Christ according 
to Matthew. There are the human voice and the 
divine inspiration. The truth is divine, and the ex- 
perience and expression are human. "The life was 
the light of men/' Jesus lived and died ; rose from 
the tomb and ascended into heaven ; the Holy Spirit 
was poured out upon His waiting disciples ; the 
Gospel of salvation was preached; men believed on 
Him for the remission of sins ; and the Church was 
organized and started on its career of conquest be- 
fore Christianity possessed a single written docu- 
ment. The inspiration of living men was the ini- 
tial task. In our religion life precedes literature. 
This recital of facts is of special interest and of 



138 The: Higher Ritualism. 

vital importance as related to the "higher criticism" 
and its task. If the "higher critics" ever finish their 
work; if disputed questions of Bible dates, author- 
ship, integrity, and credibility are all finally settled ; 
the impregnable fact will remain that the literature, 

wherever written and by whomsoever written, was 

the product of life, and the living, producing cause 

must be taken into aCCOUnt Life can not be anni- 
hilated by a critical theory. The history of the past 

can not be changed; it can wily be studied and in- 
terpreted. Behind everything with which the new 
critical methods have to do is the life. That is not 
subject to Jehoiakim's penknife. Living men are 
back of all the documents, and if you throw the 

writings on the rubbish heap, those living figun 
the past confront you and inquire as to what dispo- 
sition yOU will make of them. The analogy holds 

a Mr- momy are the heav- 
enly I and without any particular reference to 

scientific theories — Ptolemaic, Copernican, or what 

not — the Stars Still Swing and shine. Ikack of 
botany is the flora of earth, and without reference 
to the teaching of the naturalist the ilowers them- 
selves bloom in beauty and freight the air with per- 
fume. Back of geology is the globe on which we 



Higher Criticism and Human D •■; . 139 

live, and whatever may be the translation of its 
hieroglyphics by the scientists, its surface will af- 
ford solid ground for our feet and its harvest will 
fill our hungry mouths. Though all these sciences 
should be wiped out of existence, the realities upon 
which they are founded would remain; stars, flow- 
ers, and rocks would abide. Thus, too, the life out 
of which the written documents sprang is not sub- 
ject to destructive critical theories, neither indeed 
can be. 

The review thus far has been in the nature of a 
round of the outposts protecting the position of vital 
Christianity. Within these outer lines of defense 
are other and yet stronger entrenchments. For not 
only did the documents of the New Testament 
emerge from life and history; not only are that life 
and history indestructible by criticism ; but, above 
and beyond all this, is the further fact that there 
has been, and is, a continued and increasing repro- 
duction of the original sources out of which the 
Christian literature first sprang. This is the con- 
tent of Paul's words in our text : "Ye are an epistle 
of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, 
but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables 
of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh. " The 



140 The Higiikr Ritualism. 

canon of the written documents is closed, but the 
human documents are being perpetually issued. 
Each new-born Christian, rejoicing in God's mercy 
and walking in white, is a living manuscript of reve- 
n, carrying in his heart and life a Gospel that 
may never know the written or printed form. Each 

disciple of Christ is a volume, and a great host 

that no man can number makes up the whole of the 
Christian literature. The experience Of each saint, 
written or unwritten, is a life epistle expounding 

the grace of God. lie is an encyclical letter written 

by the Holy Spirit. The message is bo legible that 

it can be "knOWII and read of all men." This is 
the ^eligioUl literature tir>t read by the world. For 

this reason Chri say of His disciples: "Ye 

are the li^ht of the world." The issuance of these 

human documents, these "living epistles/ 1 will never 

until the ancient prophecy is wholly fulfilled: 

u I will put My Lows into their mind, 
And on their heart also will I write them: 

1 I will he to them a God, 
And they shall he to Me a people: 

And they shall not teaeh every man his fellow-eiti/.en, 
And e\ . : v man his brother, saying, Know the Lord : 

Eta ill ihal] ku&cm lie, 

From the least to the greatest of them." 



Higher Criticism and Human Documents. 141 

We arc told, in the defense of "higher criti- 
cism," thai criticism is a method of knowledge] and 

wherever there is anything to be known the crit- 
ical method has its place." We are informed that 
it is "the test of the certainty of knowledge, the 
method of its verification/ 1 Such being the nature 

and function of criticism, there is no reason why 
this method of knowledge may not be used in our 
study of human documents. We may put the same 
questions to "the living- epistles" that the scholar 
asks concerning the primitive written documents. 
Take the problem of authorship for example. Sup- 
pose it is strictly true, as has been urged, that "there 
is not a single sentence in the Bible which lends a 
shadow r of support to the orthodox doctrine of in- 
spiration." Suppose it to be true that the written 
documents nowhere assert a divine authorship. 
There is one point, then, where the human docu- 
ments are more explicit than the written literature. 
The living epistles echo the words of the Apostle 
Paul: "By the grace of God I am what I am." 
They bear ready testimony that they were written, 
as our text says, "with the Spirit of the living God." 
The divine inspiration of the Book may be disbe- 
lieved, but how is any one to get rid of the human 



142 Tiik Higher Ritualism. 

testimony without abolishing* all known rules of evi- 
dence ? 

We have laid aside the work of the famous 
chronologist, Archbishop Usher. His dates have 
disappeared from the margin of the Revised Ver- 
sion. They had no rightful place in any version. 
The scholars of 1 an not agree upon a Biblical 

chronology. It is one of the great confusions of 

the critics. In regard to the question of dates the 
"higher criticism" of human documents has the ad- 
vantage. Not that all the living epistles are dated. 
But many Of them are, and those that are lacking 
in this respect Can easily he placed in their histor- 
ical period. The time and circumstances ni the pro- 
duction of nian> of these human documents consti- 
tute as sweet and definite an experience as the con- 
version of Paul. Thus the common student, with- 
out the equipment of the specialist, can apply the 

principles of the "higher criticism" to this abun- 
dant literature. The questions of integrity, credi- 
bility, and agreement with other related human 
documents on essential facts, are all open to exam- 
ination. Xor will the investigator fail to reach a 
satisfactory conclusion because of lack of material, 
which is one of the greatest obstacles in the way of 
the ancient history critic. 



Higher Criticism \m> Human Documents. 143 

It is a conceit, sometimes of scholarship and al- 
ways of unbelief, that the faith of the vast majority 

of Christians is unthinking and second-hand. This 

grows out of the mistaken notion that Christianity 
is a book-religion, pure and simple. Compared with 
this "higher criticism" of life, the results of histor- 
ical research must he declared hopelessly inferior. 
The man who reads the record of the Spirit in his 
own life and in the lives of others, is not irrational 
in his methods. The man who reproduces condi- 
tions, such as repentance tow r ard God and faith in 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and by so doing- gets the re- 
sults of peace and power as described in the text- 
book, has a first-hand knowledge. He is as scientific 
in his method as the professor in the chemical labo- 
ratory arranging materials for an experiment, and 
securing anticipated results. Those who have this 
personal experience of the vital spiritual processes, 
described and promised in the Book, can say : "Now 
we believe, not because of thy saving: for we have 
heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed 
the Christ, the Savior of the world." It was of 
those with such revelation in life that John wrote: 
"Ye need not that any man should teach you." The 
man who has read the Gospel of Christ according to 
his mother; the man who has studied "the living 



144 The Higher Ritualism. 

epistle" in the life and character of a godly father; 
the man who has witnessed the acts of modern 
apostles at home, lias had a Christian literature in 
hi> own tongue. The human documents can he 
known and read of all men. These "living epistles" 
are original sources ; their study is the highest criti- 
cism. 



VII. 

THE FAILURES OF CHRISTIANITY. 

"And He spake many things unto them in parables, 
saying, Behold } a sower went forth to sozv; and 
when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, 
and the fowls came and devoured them up: some 
fell upon stony places, where they had not much 
earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because 
they had no deepness of earth: And when the 
sun was up, they were scorched; and because 
they had no root, they withered away. And 
some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprung 
up, and choked them: but other fell into good 
ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hun- 
dred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold. 
Who hath cars to hear, let him hear A — .Matt, 
xiii, 3-9. 

Tine achievements of Christianity have heen so 
illustrious, both in character and extent, as to com- 
pel acknowledgment. The historical critic, what- 
ever his school of thought, must deal with the 1111- 
10 14s 



146 Tin: HIGHER Ritualism. 

paralleled phenomenon of its rise and progress. Its 
works lie embedded in nineteen centuries of human 
history, and that history contains the best record of 
the race. The center oi its Operations is found in 
ilk- sphere of character. It begins its work with the 

transformation of the individual. It has demon- 
strated its power in changing bad men into good 
men. These products have been "the light of the 
world" and "the salt of the earth/ 1 They have been 

the torch-bearers of moral progress and the preserv- 
atives against moral decay. This living energy has 

been the most patent factor in producing the condi- 

\ tinder which we live; conditions deserving the 

--think:- "Christianity 

is a beautiful civilization." From this source has 

come the inspiration of the highest and noblest in 
our art, literature, philanthropy, legislation, thought, 
and life. At the beginning it filing its lU'W-horn 

forces at the heart of heathenism, and since that 

time it has been in constant Conflict with the hideous 

and the hoary evils of the social order. 

widely influential has Christianity been that the 
us word> of Richter fall upon our ears as sober 

truth: *\ - the purest among the mighty, the 

mightiest among the pure, who, with his pierced 

hand, has raised tip empires from their foundations, 



Th i: Failures < >r Christian] py. [47 

turned the stream (A history from its old channel, 
ami still continues to rule and guide th 

The skeptical critic, with his scorn of the super- 
natural, has essayed the stupendous task of account- 
ing for these achievements by natural causes. Such 
was the attempt of Gibbon in his ''Decline and Fall 

i^i the Roman Empire," which, to a large extent, 
had to be a study of the rise and triumph of the 
Christian religion. He suggested five causes: zeal, 
purged of Jewish narrowness; the doctrine of a 
future life of reward and punishment; the ascrip- 
tion of miraculous power to the early Church ; the 
pure and austere morals of the early Christians; 
and the warm affections and admirable discipline of 
the young republic. But each of these causes is also 
an effect, and as an effect demands explanation. 
What produced the zeal, the marvelous powers, the 
high morality, and the splendid discipline of the non- 
descript material out of which the early Church was 
built? These specified causes are themselves 
achievements, and the problem of the naturalist re- 
mains unsolved. This is the perpetual challenge of 
history to those who deny the divinity of our faith. 
The Christian apologists, too, have not neglected 
the use of the same material. Open a volume on 
"Christian Evidences' 1 and you will find at least a 



14S The Higher Ritualism. 

chapter devoted to the subject. History is called 
upon to make its contribution to the external proofs 
of the divine origin of Christianity. The witness 
of the centuries has Strengthened faith in the Gospd 

the power I unto salvation, and 

I laced an almosl insurmountable obstacle in the 
way of 1 

But, r , in the success of Christianity, we 

are not permitted to forget that its failures are also 

in evidence. Its defeat- have been oAly less con- 
spicuous than its v : That which has been 

mplished only tl hortcomings into bolder 

'. It- representatives have not been consistent; 

its institutions have no! been perfect; its enterprises 

■ metimes faded; its 
pr<>-ram of salvation has not been carried out. For 

eighteen centuries it has attempted the redemption 

lety, and while, withotit question, it has bl« 

humanity in countless ways, our civilization can 

only be called Christian by COUrtesy. The world has 

not been puiL OlTUption; its vices have not 

vanquished; LtS evils have not been destroyed; 

its abuses have not been dethroned; its people have 

ii^t been saved from their sins. Christianity has 
failed in the individual. Multitudes, who have been 

in contact with the Gospel for years, have success- 



Tin; Failures o* Christianity. 149 

fully rejected its overtures and withstood its in- 
fluences. There are territories that were once aflame 
with zeal in which to-day the Church of the living 
God is scarcely a memory. There are nations, once 
swayed by a living faith, which have so far departed 
from the Christian ideal that they are almost bar- 
ren of the fruit of the Spirit. Over against the 
splendid successes of our religion must be placed its 
undeniable failures. And this is the question that 
springs to the lips of the one who traces the course 
of the Gospel down through the Christian centuries. 
If Christianity is divine — if it is the power of God 
unto salvation — why has it not been uniformly suc- 
cessful and thoroughly effective? 

Seeking an answer, we turn to the Master and 
find that this phase of the fortune of His kingdom 
was anticipated and explained in His teachings. 
The occasion of the forecast was a critical time in 
His own ministry in Galilee. In that northern coun- 
try He had been incessantly at work for a whole 
year. His hand of power had been busy with its 
healing touch and His voice of love had been un- 
ceasing in its utterances of grace and truth. Far 
and wide spread the news of His works, and from 
the houses where His name had become a household 
word the people in multitudes crowded about Him. 



150 The Higher Ritualism. 

From surface indications Jesus appeared to have 
conquered the hearts of the Galileans, and the ris- 
ing enthusiasm, like a tidal wave, might reasonably 
have been expected to roll southward, overwhelm- 
ing all opposition, nor staying in its course until 
Jerusalem had owned and crowned its King. The 
time seemed ripe for a triumphal progress to the 
throne of the house of David. 

Bttt our Lord was under no such illusion. He 
Knew what was in man. lie realized that the Gali- 
lean enthusiasm had reached its high-water mark, 
and that the tide would BOOQ be-in to ebb. He was 
leceived by crowds that would soon vanish, by 

an interest that was transient, by impressions that 

ephemeral, by emotions that were effervescent, 

by declarations of love and loyalty that in a brief 

moment could be transformed into bitter and blas- 
phemous denunciations. In a little time, instead of 
being the center of attraction for thousands, He 
would be followed bv a handful of disciples; in- 
stead of being the idol of the populace, he would be 

a fugitive avoiding publicity. But His disciples, 

we may be sure, estimated the significance of the 

crowds by their numbers, being deceived by their 

POT the purpose, therefore, of checking any 

undue elation of spirit, any unfounded expectations, 



The Failures o* Christianity. 151 

any imposition of appearances, and tot the further 
purpose of preparing them for the hour of di 
chantment, when the epidemic of enthusiasm would 

spend its iovee, lie sounded the needed note- of 
warning. For the shock of such an experience as 
this the disciples needed preparation. So he taught 
them that, between our sanguine expectation and 
our actual realization as heralds of the kingdom, 
provision must always be made for a wide margin 
of failure. 

The warning was given in what is called "the 
Parable of the Sower." It was springtime by the 
sea of Galilee, and the crowds of eager listeners 
thronged the .Master as He stood upon the shore. 
To escape the crush He stepped into a fishing-boat, 
and from that unique pulpit addressed the congre- 
gation before Him. His introduction was the para- 
ble in which we find the explanation as to why the 
preaching of the Gospel is not invariably successful. 
Interpreters have been at great pains to reproduce 
the physical surroundings. Upon the hillside be- 
yond the people were the fields, and we are allowed 
to imagine that in the distance a farmer strode along 
scattering his seed. Bui the local color adds little 
to the interest of the parable. The moral aspect of 
the situation is the principal thing. Before the 



152 The Higher Ritualism. 

speaker stretched away the sea of faces. He was a 
sower of seed, and his audience represented the field 
in which for twelve months He had been working. 
What would be the harvest? Would all those who 
had listened to His preaching produce the sheaves 
•lden grain? The answer is negative and ex- 
planatory. And while the pending situation was 
the immediate occasion of the instruction, the gen- 
eral principle it contained applies to all congrega- 
tions in which, as a held, the seed of the Gospel 
might be scattered. It is a perpetual explanation 

of the cause of the failures that would attend the 
preaching of the Word. 

This announcement of prospective failure must 
have been a surprise. Apart from experience a far 
different result would be prophesied for SUCh a mes- 

and such a messenger. Taught by the Old 

Testament the di would expect immediate and 

complete triumph. Their religious education would 
predispose them to the belief that the kingdom 
Id Come without the slightest reference to hu- 
man desire or disinclination; that Messiah would 
Conquer in spite of man' n and in the ab- 

sence of man's co-operation. But the fond imagina- 
tion that the divine de-ire guaranteed salvation to 
all men simply by the proclamation of the Gospel, 



Tin: Kaii.i ki;> Of CHRISTIANITY. 153 

effectually dispelled by the parable. The pub- 
lication of the good news would be attended by a 
variety e>f results, and some of the results must be 
reckoned as failures. The history of preaching 

through all centuries and anions all peoples cor- 
roborates the truth of our Lord's prediction, uttered 
in the face of his own great congregation on the 
plain of Gennesaret. 

The fact of failures being recognized, and the 
prophecy of failures being recalled, the rationale of 
the failures is our next concern. Causes have been 
suggested. Two widely differing explanations have 
been offered. The first comes from those wdio be- 
long to the opposition. They lay the blame at the 
door of religion itself ; they insist that the weakness 
belongs to the seed. Those who proffer this solu- 
tion are usually ready to express appreciation for 
what Christianity has accomplished in the past. 
They acknowledge that it was an essential factor in 
one stage of social evolution. In the name of prog- 
ress, however, they contend that the ancient land- 
marks must be left behind in the onward march 
of the race, and that some new star is needed to 
guide humanity's future steps. They argue that 
Christianity has done its work, has exhausted its 
vital forces, and is now impotent to grapple with 



154 The Higher Ritualism. 

existing conditions. Old and decrepit, it should be 
treated with reverence for its works' sake, but it can 
have no commanding office in the further develop- 
ment of man. Just as the patriarchal phase of re- 
ligion wa> succeeded by the Mosaic era; just as 
Judaism was superseded by Christianity; just so, 
they a fresh form, some higher type, 

must follow the religion oi Christ. Ignoring the 

fact that the world has never risen even to the level 
of the Ten Commandments ; ignoring the fact that no 
nation has CVCT yel given practical application to the 
principles Of the Sermon on the Mount; ignoring 
the fact that no £ of Christians has at- 

tained "the tn< I of the fullness of 

Christ;" ignoring the fact that the proposed suc- 
Cessor 19 I n Sight, they SUggesI that the an- 

cient faith he retired. In other words, to use the 
BgUre of the parable, the cause of the failure lies 
in the Seed. 

The other theory of failures comes from th< 

who set themselves for the defense of the GospeL 

According to this view the indictment is against the 

ministry; the 1 is the culprit. 

Some b are acctu scattering the seeds of 

noxious weeds of heresy rather than the truths of 
the Gospd. Other preachers are faulty in method; 



Tin-: Failures o* Christianity. 155 

they do not clothe the truth in attractive form; they 

can not fix the attention of their hearers; they do 

not secure the equipment of the Holy Spirit These 

and other specifications arc commonly supposed to 
account for the non-productiveness of preaching". 
That there is, and has been, legitimate ground for 
such charges may be conceded as lamentably true. 
But an hypothesis must cover the facts in the case, 
and when it is attempted to account for the failures 
in the proclamation of the Gospel by charging it all 
to dereliction on the part of the ambassadors for 
Christ, the explanation will not cover the experience 
of our Lord. His hand scattered good seed. He 
was not lacking in method ; "never man spake like 
this man." He was equipped, having the Spirit 
without measure. Yet he knew the bitterness of 
failure. Some would not listen, and the fires of en- 
thusiasm kindled in many hearts by His message 
soon settled into the cold, gray ashes of unconcern. 
Without making any defense of unfaithful men in 
the ministry, we insist that a theory must take care 
of all the facts. 

The tragedy of failures is otherwise accounted 
for in the parable. Our Lord finds the cause — not 
in the SOWer and not in the seed ; not in the preacher 
and not in the truth ; but in the quality of the soil, 



156 The Higher Ritualism. 

in the condition of the hearer. This is the lesson of 
the parable: the growth of the seed depends upon 

the nature of the soil in which it is planted. The 
stress of the story does not bear upon the skill of 

the sower. Blsewh< il emphasis is laid upon 

the character and preparation of the preacher. Xor 
does the parable question the quality of the seed; 
that is guaranteed by its source and by its returns 

-nil. Here the Master points to the hearts 

of men and declares : The crop depends upon the 
soil. 

This L8 quickly seen to be a universal law. The 

fanner knows that it is true and rigid He under- 
stands that the planting of the besl >cc(\, and the 
of the most improved seeder will no! insure 1 
crop. When everything else is present in perfection 
the soil will govern the result. Likewise the Christ 

teaches that the condition of the hearer is the deter- 
mining factor in proclaiming the good news of the 

kingdom. The seed finds the soil but does not 
create it. What a man gets from the Gospd de- 
pends upon what a man brings to the Gospel. The 
Germans have embodied this central idea in the title 
they give the parable: "The Four Kinds of Soil." 
The parable of the soil deals with aspects of the 
kingdom that are public and patent. Its truth can 



The Failures o* Christianity. 157 

be verified by observation and substantiated by his- 
tory. Other parables, notably that of the Pearl of 

Great Price and that of the Hid Treasure, must be 
interpreted by experience. As a prophecy the 

tails describe the diverse classes of hearers that 
compose all congregations, and the diverse results 
that will everywhere attend the preaching of the 
word. The differences specified lie upon the very 
surface of human nature, describing as they do 
the varying degrees of receptivity possessed by 
those who hear. The beaten path, the shallow soil, 
the thorny ground, are each typical of a class of 
hearers. The scribes and Pharisees, with minds 
hard-trodden by tradition ; the Galileans, with their 
shallow and shortlived applause; the tentative disci- 
pleship with its profession, "Lord, I will follow r 
thee; but — ;" and the loyal circle of noble spirits, 
following Christ without reserve, — these are the pro- 
totypes of those who constitute the field of humanity. 
And even among the good and honest hearts there 
are diversities of attainment ; for some bring forth 
an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold. 
At this point the parabolic instruction ends. The 
teaching is equivalent to a statement of fact. Con- 
ditions are described as they actually exist, and 
these, we are told, account for manifest results. The 



158 The Higher Ritualism. 

teaching enters into no consideration of the process 
by which these qualities of human nature are pro- 
duced ; but given these conditions (and they are 

certainly common, whatever their cause J the result 

will be failures. Warning has been given against 
pushing inquiry beyond the fixed boundaries of the 

parable* But this is not a possible terminus with a 
forest of interrogation marks just before us. Whence 
arise these differentiations, here represented as qual- 

$oil? Are these distinctions ^i nature or of 

Character? I- it true that the Gospel has no chance 

pt with those who are predisposed by nature to 

ve it? [f 90* where lies the responsibility 

the fact that a proportion of the race is immune to 

influence ? The parable does not concern 

itself with the>e and similar questions. Taking 

hearts as th- it prophesies their reception of 

the Gospel. Bui as students of the whole Word we 

are not BUbj< UCh limitation. It is our privi- 

i" study Scripture in the light of Scripture. 

Writing an exposition of the parable of the king- 
dom for the preacher's USe in the .study, we might 

pause here. but. preaching to living men and women, 
in whose minds these great questions clamor for 
answer, we must give them consideration. The 
problems suggested by the wide diversity of results, 



Tin: Failures of Christianity. 159 

bo picturesquely set forth as attendant upon the 

preaching of the Gospel, ma}- be reduced to two. 

The first is found in the question : Arc these 
di (Terences in receptivity natural or acquired? The 
importance of the result of such an inquiry is ap- 
parent in the fact that upon it hinges the doctrine of 
human responsibility. If the disabilities described 
belong- to nature, then men came from the hand of 
the Creator in such fashion that the proclamation of 
the good news is not simply a useless form but a 
veritable mockery. The parable has actually been 
used as an argument for such a belief. It has been 
interpreted as if it taught predestination in its bald- 
est and hardest form. The conditions unfavorable 
to the reception of the truth, according to this view, 
are imposed and not acquired. The incapacity in 
the hearer is declared to be inherent. If this view 
be correct, there is no escaping the conclusion that 
the impervious soil was trampled hard by divine 
power ; that the thorns, choking the springing grain, 
were planted by the divine hand ; that the shallow 
soil was so arranged by divine purpose ; while the 
good and honest hearts are such by divine election. 

The figures employed in the parable are not con- 
clusive in solving the problem. There are indica- 
tions in our Lord's interpretation of His words that 



160 The Higher Ritualism. 

the obstacles enumerated are not natural but ac- 
quired. The thorns, described in the explanation as 
"the care of this world and the deceitftilness of 
riches," arc not birthrights. The pathways of earth, 
in which the seed can find no lodgment, are cer- 
tainly beaten hard by the feet of man himself. Lack 
of attention is the "wayside" hearer's trouble. This 
OS, not incapacity, but false direction of atten- 
tion. The man wh<> can fasten his mind Upon busi- 
and current events, has the ability to use that 
same power with reference to truth and the affairs 

of the kingdom But while the figures do 

not help us as to the shallow natures and the good 
and hone>t hearts, they are covered by the Chris- 
tian doctrine of human responsibility. This is one 

of the atmospheric truths of the New Testament, 

everywhere present and laying its pressure upon 

each human soul. Equally to the purpose is our 
Lord's declaration that men must receive the king- 
dom of heaven as little children. Among other 

things, that must mean the necessity of laying aside 
acquired ways of thought and action, and a return 
to the simplicity and trustfulness of childhood. The 
whole tenor of I promise, invitation, and 

warning indicates that the obstacles are not natural 

defects but acquired indispositions, induced by neg- 



Tin: Failures o* Christianity. e6j 
led of the means of grace and the crowding- of the 

life, limited in its capacity, with the things of time 

and sense. 

More importance, by far, attaches to the second 
question : Are these qualities of the soil — these 
conditions of the hearers — permanent or subject to 
change? This is the problem of vital moment. 
Whatever may be the cause of existing conditions, 
whether the varieties of soil represent natural or 
acquired incapacity, the chief interest centers in the 
possibility of change. If human nature can know 
no change for the better we have only a Gospel of 
despair. Here again the parable throws light on 
only a part of the difficulty — the good and honest 
hearts. Its illustration does not touch all points. 
It sets forth only one aspect of the phenomena of 
the spiritual life. It seems to assume that the char- 
acters of the various classes of hearers are fixed and 
incapable of change. In nature, we must admit, 
that, as far as present knowledge goes, some soils 
are hopelessly unproductive. The great mountain 
ranges, the hot and barren sands of the desert and 
the white and silent ice plains of the poles, are hope- 
less fields for the agriculturist. 

But, reading Scripture in the light of Scripture, 
we dare allow no interpretation of the parable to 
ii 



162 The Higher Ritualism. 

pass unchallenged that ignores the idea of conver- 
sion — the great Christian doctrine of transforma- 
tion. An ancient school of heretics (the Gnostics) 
did indeed divide men into two classes — one capable 
and the other incapable of the Christian life, hut 
is no such brutal fatalism to be found in the 
Scripture. For while it is true, and the thought is 
awful in its significance, that there is such a possi- 
bility as laying waste the very soil of human na- 
ture in which the seed of eternal life should take 

root, it is also blessedly true, not only in promise 

but in experience, that, even for those who have 
brojlght themselves int.) such evil condition, a re- 
covery through the grace and power of God is pos- 
sible. Hence tl £ hope is for all men. 

There is one dement in the soil of human nature, 

not found in the soil of the earth — freedom of 
choice. The man who longs for the >alvation of his 
soul and the fruit of the Spirit has assurance of at- 
tainment in the divine promise. Just as the pro 
of irrigation has transformed the arid lands of the 

great West, and made them beautiful and fruitful, 

so it belongs to the impregnable facts even of mod- 
ern history that the grace of God has reclaimed the 
most unpromising Boil of human nature and pro- 
duced a harvest of good visible to the naked ev< 



Thk Failures o* Christianity. 163 

the skeptical observer — Charles Darwin's memoirs 
bearing witn 

In keeping with this central teaching of the 

Christ are the words in which He Concludes the 
parable: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 

and the exhortation that follows the record as given 
by Luke: "Take heed therefore how ye hear." In 
these words are gathered up the practical lesson of 
the instruction for His own and all succeeding con- 
gregations. On attention hinges destiny — this is 
the finding of modern psychology and the reiterated 
warning of the Gospel. The power of attention be- 
longs to man, and the direction of attention is de- 
pendent on his will. Herein lies the basis for the 
doctrine of responsibility as related to the hearing 
of the Word. The conclusion of the whole matter is 
this: "Take heed how ye hear." 

The fact that these qualities of soil which deter- 
mine the reception of the message are acquired, and 
not native, gives us the lesson with which to end the 
study. The soil should be pre-empted in behalf of 
the truth of Christ before receptivity is reduced to 
dangerous degrees. The parable points us to the 
fact, so slowly recognized, that youth presents the 
most productive period in religious results of all 
man's threescore vears and ten. That time of life, 



164 The Highkr Ritualism. 

bounded by the age of twelve at one extreme and 
by the age of twenty-four at the other, is the rich- 
est harvest-field because freest from the care of this 
world, the deceitfulness of riches, and all the other 
developing conditions that interfere with attention 
to the message of the ambassador of Christ. Com- 
pared with other p this stretch of a dozen 
years is like the teeming prairies of the Mississippi 
Valley in contrast with the barren alkali deserts of 
Utah and Nevada* Within these years there lies 
almost a monopoly of religious opportunity. Be- 
yond this period the chances against conversion to 
are almost appalling. Revival gleaners may 
have a mission outside this field, thus fenced oft by 
but the harvest-hands will find the golden grain 
Springing up most abundantly within these limits. 

Profoundly impressive in this connection are 
some late findings of science. Recently investi- 
gators of recognized standing began systematic 
study of the phenomena of the religious life, be- 
fore that time the region covered by that part of 
human experience was a dark continent unexplored. 
\<>w the subject is enlisting an increasing number 
of scholar^. As yet only a few of the pioneers in 
the new field of research have made public the re- 
sults of their investigations, but. meager and tenta- 



The Failures o* Christianity. 

tivc as the published statements are, they arc almost 
startling in their significance. In religion, the 
"sphere oi influence," to use a current political 

phrase, is shuwn to be the time between childhood 
and manhood. Before reaching the age of twelve, 
We are told that the normal child is scarcely com- 
petent to make a life choice; and that after the in- 
dividual passes the age of twenty-four his suscep- 
tibility to religious impressions is reduced to a min- 
imum and becomes a vanishing quantity. During 
that period, however, even the processes of physical 
nature are ready to co-operate with religious forces 
brought to bear upon the developing life. The great 
choices are made during this time, and the large 
majority who choose the Christian way do it within 
the space of these comparatively few years. 

This conclusion is reached by scientific methods. 
Tables are prepared and exhibited on the same gen- 
eral principle as the "Law of Mortality" under 
which our life insurance companies operate. This 
"Law of Mortality" is deduced from death records 
and from the experience of companies during a long 
series of years. In this way is determined what 
average proportion of persons who enter upon a 
certain period will die during that period, and, con- 
sequently, what proportion will survive. The sta- 



166 The: Higher Ritualism. 

tistics embodying- the results are called "Tables of 
Mortality." On these, one of the most important of 
which is known as the "American Experience Ta- 
bic" are based the calculations of insurance experts 
as to "the expectation of life." In like manner the 
scientists, as a result of their investigations of re- 
ligious experience, have published what may be 

designated as "Tables of Immortality/ 1 upon which 

might almost be based "the expectation of eternal 
life." They have secured from a large number of 
Christian men the facts of their religious experience. 
This material is analyzed to insure accurate infor- 
mation. The data is not as extensive as that em- 
ployed by life insurance experts. It covers less 
than two decades while the insurance tables are the 

growth of a century. The work has been done b\ 

volunteers and not by professionals, for love of 

knowledge and not for commercial gain. Of the 

results seCUred none p — eSfl more vital interest than 
that which has to do with religious receptivity — the 

subject of the parable of the soils. Taking such 

materials as could be found in the life history of 
776 graduates of Drew Theological Seminary, 526 
officers of the Young Men's Christian Association 
in the United States and Canada, 272 members of 

the Rock River Conference of the Methodist Epis- 



Tm: Failures o* Christianity. 167 

copal Church, and 1,784 men at large, independent 
investigators found the average time of convei 
to be between sixteen and seventeen years of age. 
With this result the observation of Christian work- 
i rs is found to agree. 

What is the lesson? Plant the soil of life before 
it becomes unproductive ! To all sowers of the seed, 
in home and Church, revelation and science repeat 
in unison : ' k He that hath ears to hear, let him 
hear/' 

Note.— On the occasion when this sermon was preached inquiry 
revealed the fact that out of a congregation numbering over twelve 
hundred, only one person had been converted after the age of forty 
years. For the figures given above I am indebted to a valuable work 
by Professor George A. Coe, bearing the title "The Spiritual Life." 



VIII. 

THE CORRELATION OF SPIRITUAL 
FORCES. 

"And there arc diversities of operations, but it is 

the same Cod winch worketh all in all" — i Cor. 
sdij 6. 

In the physical world there arc two great factor-, 
and, as far as Wt know, only two. One is the sub- 
stance of which all I living or not living, arc 

composed. The other is that which produce- 
tend> to produce, the movement or rest of bodi< 
cause of which motion and restraint are the effects; 
and a cause known to us only hv its effects. The 
first of these factors we call matter; the second fac- 
tor we know as force. 

The brilliant era of physical science in which we 

live, is, in large measure, the product of two dis- 
coveries concerning; these factors of force and mat- 
ter. The first of these discoveries dates from the 
closing years of the eighteenth century. At that 
time experimental science established the funda- 

[68 



Correlation of Spiritual Po» 169 

mental principle of the indestructibility of matter. 

The acceptance of the theory was, of necessity, revo- 
lutionary in its results. The notion that matter 
COUld be destroyed was fatal to chemistry. The anal- 
ysis of the chemist, who accounted for the disap- 
pearance of materials in his processes, by the sim- 
ple theory of destruction, was comparatively worth- 
less. But after the acceptance of the dogma of the 
indestructibility of matter, it became an axiom of 
the laboratory that not a single atom of matter could 
be destroyed. The new chemistry taught that while 
matter "changes form with protean facility, travers- 
ing a thousand cycles of change, vanishing and re- 
appearing incessantly, yet it never wears out or 
lapses into nothing." The task of the chemist was 
now enormously increased, for he must render ac- 
count for every thousandth part of a grain of the 
material with which he began his work. 

The acceptance of this doctrine of the indestruct- 
ibility of matter was followed and paralleled in the 
nineteenth century by a similar discovery concern- 
ing force. It is a principle of modern physics that 
no force is ever lost ; that as matter appears in one 
form, and disappears only to survive in another 
form, so also dues force. The law of the conserva- 
tion of energy, as this great fundamental principle 



i jo The Higher Rituausm. 

of modern physics is known, embodies the theory 
that no force is created or destroyed in any of the 
processes of nature, and that the total energy of 
the universe stank Coupled with this law of 

the conservation of energy is that of the correlation 
of forces. According to this scientific doctrine phys- 
ical f«>rce- p0SS — the property of convertibility. 
They are 80 intimately related that, each may pro- 
duce, or, in turn* pass into all the others. 

The Story of this theory of the correlation of 
forces belongs to the romance of science. More 
than one hundred years ago an American, Benjamin 
ThQmpSOn (later and better known as Count kum- 
>, made experiments respecting the relation of 
motion to heat, lie found that the friction of two 
bodies always produced a certain amount of heat; 
and that the motion of a body, when arrested or hin- 
dered, likewise resulted in heat. l ; or example, a 

portion of the heat generated in the locomotive on 

the modern railroad, L8 converted into the motion of 
the train; while, by the application of the brakes, 
or the friction of an axle, the motion of the train is 
transformed into the heat of friction. As a result 
of the experiments of Count Rumford, the scientists 
■ d their creed as to the article on heat (up to 
that time generally considered to be a form of mat- 



Correlation <>r Spiritual For* i 7 r 

tor termed caloric or phlogiston), having reached 
the conclusion that heal as it exists in bodies is a 

form oi motion. With this as Starting point the 

theory ^i the correlation of forces was developed. 

Count Rtimford, in his experiments, showed that 
heat, developed in boring a brass cannon for a couple 
of hours, would raise nearly twenty pounds of water 
from the freezing to the boiling point. In the mean- 
time the metal lost no weight, forcing the conclu- 
sion that heat could not be matter, but a kind of mo- 
tion produced in the particles of matter. Other ex- 
periments were offered in evidence. Sir Humphrey 
Davy found that by rubbing together two pieces of 
ice, at a temperature below the freezing point, suffi- 
cient heat was produced to partially melt them. 
Others called attention to the fact that to shake 
water in a bottle raised its temperature. But the 
great demonstration was first made by Mr. Grove, 
an Knglish physicist, in 1843. tie invented and ex- 
hibited an apparatus by means of which, beginning 
with a ray of light as an initial force, he obtained 
a chemical action of electricity, of magnetism, of 
heat, and of motion. The schoolboy of to-day is 
familiar with the fact that, beginning with the force 
of electricity, we can obtain motion, or heat, or 
light, or magnetism, or chemical affinity. The mu- 



172 T 1 1 m Higher Ritualism. 

tual relations of all these phenomena can be shown 
equally well by taking mechanical motion as an 

initial foree. A block of marble hoisted by work- 
men to the top of a building may be used. Suitable 
apparatus will enable the experimenter to lower the 
building block to the ground in such a way as to 
secure heat, li.^ht, and electricity. The modern 
science of physics rests upon the principles that all 

energy is conserved, and that physical forces are 

mutually convertible. 

Beyond the purely scientific values of such dis- 
coveries, there lies their religious significance. In 
the langU the universal creed, we believe in 

I the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and 
earth," and we RlUSt give a cordial welcome to that 
which interprets the work of His hands. It is the 
teaching ipture that all nature is intended to 

be a perpetual witness to God's being, power, wis- 
dom, and goodness. "For the invisible things of 

Ilim since the creation of the world are clearly seen, 

being perceived through the things that are made, 
even His everlasting power and divinity." It was 
a devout old reformer, before Luther's time, who 
spoke of the Bible as "God's abridged revelation, " 

in contrast with nature, the original and unabridged 
. There may be those among the scientists 



Correlation o* Spiritual For* 173 

who are willing to stop at nature, but there are 
others who, in the words of the late Professor John 
Fiske, push "through nature to God." The rever- 
ent Study of "that universal and public manuscript," 
shows that each part bears the divine signature. The 

devoted heart presses nearer to the "Maker of 

heaven and earth" in each new scientific discov- 
ery. The man of faith rejoices in the increasing 
knowledge of the action of physical forces as dis- 
closing more intimately the personal will of God. 

Nearly three thousand years ago, with all the 
limitations of his time as to knowledge, a man of 
contemplative mind thus voiced his praise in appre- 
ciation of the world of nature : "O Lord, how mani- 
fold are Thy works ! in wisdom hast Thou made 
them all : the earth is full of Thy riches." What 
would have been his wonder and exaltation had he 
lived in our own time of microscope, telescope, and 
spectroscope, when the horizons of knowledge are 
being continually pushed back; when the sphere of 
intelligent wonder is being so immensely enlarged; 
and when the glories and mysteries of the divine 
works are being indefinitely multiplied? For these 
times of investigation, in which men arc so labori- 
ously deciphering the hieroglyphics of nature, are 



174 T liL ^ HlGHBK Ritualism. 

giving" an increasingly richer content to the utter- 
ance of the sweet singer of Israel : 

"The heavens are telling the glory °f ^ T ° ( l i 
And the work of his hands doth the firnianent declare: 
Day unto day poureth forth speech; 
And night unto night revealeth knowledge." 

And when we mark power at work in the uni- 
; when we are taught that it works according 

to plan, and produces intelligible results; when we 

are justified in the hypothesis that all manifested 
power COmefl from a central BOUrce j when even Mr. 
Herbert Spencer speaks of "an infinite and eternal 
energy from which all things proceed/ 1 with rev- 
erent and grateful emotions we look out upon the 

realm of matter and force, and repeat the words of 
otir text: "And there are diversities of operations, 
hut it is tin. God which worketh all in all." 

Above the physical forces, with which we have 
thus intimately to do, we find other forces, 'file 
most superficial observer can not fail to see their 
Operations in the world Of human nature. The mo- 
tive powers of human action offer themselves for 
rational consideration, as do the forces of the phys- 
ical world. The reality of emotion is no more to 
he questioned than is the reality of motion, and it 
vitally related to onr interests. The moving 



Correlation <>r Spiritual Fom 17.5 

power of affection is as real in social relations, as is 
Ihe use of steam in the industrial realm. The in- 
fluence of mind upon mind, heart upon heart, and 
will upon will, is as much a verity as the sway of 

chemical affinity over material elements. The 
storms that agitate the bosom of the sea no more 

belong to the world of force than do the gusts of 
passion and the blasts of anger that sweep through 

human life. The influences that hold individuals 
together in that great aggregate we call society, or 
in the smaller group we know as the family, are as 
truly forceful as is the mysterious power of gravity, 
to which we ascribe the order and harmony of the 
heavens. That which effectively and permanently 
influences human life in any sphere must be a force, 
and is entitled to be known and studied as a force. 
Among the potent forces of the world are its 
religions ; and among the religions the most power- 
ful is that called Christianity. It has not escaped 
notice that this is the one religion that offers itself 
as spiritual power. Socrates, in old Greece, stand- 
ing among his fellows like some high mountain 
catching the first glow of the coming sunn- 
truth, was a great moral teacher. He gave his dis- 
ciples directions for the conduct of life, and specu- 
lations as to the possibilities and destiny of man. 



176 Tiik HIGHER Ritualism. 

But having taught men what they ought to do, Soc- 
rates never ventured to promise, "Ye shall reeeive 
power." So the sage of China, practical Confucius, 
formulated his admirable ^nlc of ethics for coming 

generations, but the outcome depended on the un- 
aided efforts Of those who sal at his feet. He dared 
dose his instructions with the promise, "Ye 

shall receive power." The Buddha could give his 
counsels of perfection to those who joined his re- 
volt against Brahmanism, and thus become "the 
Light of Asia.' 1 But Aria needed power as well as 

light, and Gautama's be8t was an unassisted pro- 
gram of culture for weak human nature. He taught 
Eollowers that victory must he their own; help 

from without, or above, was not to be expected. 
Hi- religion was lacking in the inspiration of the 
promise, <r Ye Bhall receive power." This is a fatal 

lack. A revelation of duty is hut the lesser part 
of man's need. There may he mental receptivity as 
to lofty teaching, coupled with moral inability as 
to performance. Knowledge of the right is not 
sufficient. What we need, most of all. is an enabling 
act. 

But the Christ, "who spake as never man spake," 
did something more and higher than to tell the blind 
that they ought to see, the deaf that they ought to 



Correlation o* Spiritual For< 177 

hear, the dumb that they ought to speak, the de- 
graded that they ought to rise, and the sinners that 
they ought to be good. He did not mock humanity 
by impossible visions of excellence. But of all 

teachers, He was the one who promised aid to will- 
in:; souls that they might make the splendid ideals 
of His teaching shining realities in their living. 
His was the promise to discipleship : ''Ye shall re- 
ceive power/ 1 Force is promised in the manifesto 
of our religion. It suggests Christianity as a 
mighty power in individual life and human history. 
It sets the new religion forth as force, as energy, 
as spiritual motion. Its great apostle to the outlying 
nations could face imperial Rome, the mightiest fab- 
ric of government ever lifted to power and held in 
place by force of arms, with the declaration: "For 
I am not ashamed of the Gospel : for it is the power 
of God unto salvation. " Wonderful promise of a 
wonderful Savior! In this higher life our need is 
great. Here our weakness presses us to the verge 
of despair. We need power to counteract the evil 
tendencies of our natures more than we need phys- 
ical power to carry our crafts upstream against the 
currents, or across the sea against winds and tides. 
We need some power to lift us toward the heights of 
virtue, more than we need steam to carrv us swiftly 
12 



178 The Higher Ritualism. 

over the plains, across the rivers, and through tun- 
neled mountains. We need sonic power to help us 
perform the higher duties of life, more than we need 
mechanical devices whereby we can accomplish the 
work of one hundred men in a day. The machinery 
of human nature needs adequate motive power. 

It need not be argued that Christianity has been 

and is, a definite force in the world. That would 
he a \\<>rk of supererogation. It lias been a more 

;ial fact«»r in the progress of humanity than 

Steam-power or electricity. It has been active and 

.e, impetuous and imperious. The history 
of the world presents no phenomenon more striking 

than the manifested power of Christianity. It has 

produced a distinct epoch in history — the Christian 

era; it has introduced a new type of man by trans- 
formation, nut Jew, not Roman, and not Greek, but 
a type so unlike existing types that it needed a fresh 
term to describe it, and the new name was given at 
Antioch ; it has Organized, and has maintained for 
almost two millenniums, the most catholic and pow- 
erful society the world ha^> even seen — the Christian 
Church; it has Created a civilization so unique in 
character, that it is described only by the adjective 
Christian. In its infancy it triumphed over the triple 
alliance of Jewish hate. Roman might and Greek 



CORRECTION 0* SPIRITUAL PoR< 179 

subtlety; it extirpated idolatry as it existed in that 
ancient world, and from the Euphrates to the At- 
lantic, and from the sluggish Nile to the forests of 
Germany, the cods have vanished, while temples, 

priests, altars, and worshipers have utterly pa 

away. It is most powerful in those foremost nations 
which have behind them a thousand years of devel- 
opment, and which seem to have a sustained monop- 
oly of progress ; it has inspired in the past century 
missionary enterprises never equaled in history, 
with results surpassing even those of the first cen- 
tury of Christian propagandists ; it has created a 
literature without a parallel at the expense of ages 
of toil ; it has founded and sustains Church build- 
ings for worshipers, colleges and schools for stu- 
dents, hospitals for sick and disabled, homes for 
aged and infirm, and asylums for orphans — a. great 
galaxy of beautiful philanthropies. All this and 
more. Christianity has been, and is, a force in the 
world. As such it demands, by its nature and 
achievements, recognition and respect. 

We can name the initial force out of which 
spring all the diversities of operations that charac- 
terize our religion. We know the power by which 
all the wonders of Christianity have been accom- 
plished. The secret is revealed in one word — Love. 



i8o The Higher Ritualism. 

This is the keyword of our faith. It is the word 
most characteristic of the Xew Testament. It is 
the word most expressive of the nature of God and 
the spirit of Christ. Paul reaches the heights as he 
sings the psalm of its perfection and power, and 
John strikes it again and again like a chord of sweet 

music. It describes the source of salvation: "God 

so loved the world." It embodies the essence of 
Christianity: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God;" 
and w ThoU shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." It 
IS the motive power of the new life: "The lo\ 
Chri>t COnstraineth u>." It meets all the demands 
of the divine will : "Love is the fulfilling of the law." 

It is the proof of our profession: "By this shall all 

men know that ye are My disciples." Without this, 
all other gifts are of no avail. We may have elo- 
quence ("the tongues of men and of angels") ; we 

may have learning ("the gifl of prophecy, and know 
all mysteries and all knowledge' 9 ); we may have 
faith ("all faith. SO as to remove mountains") ; we 
may have philanthropy ("if I bestow all my goods 
to feed the poor" ) ] we may even make the supreme 
sacrifice of martyrdom ("and if I give my body to 
he burned" | ; hut without love there is no Christian- 
ity. It is no more certain that the great forces that 
throb and pulsate in mechanics have their origin in 



Correlation p* Spiritual For< i8i 

heat, and that that in turn can he traced to its SOUrCC 

in the Mm, than it is that the dynamic of Christian- 
ity is love. 

When love is thus designated as the essential 
force in Christian life and achievement, we face a 
problem of no mean proportions. Other qualities 
are set forth as requisites of symmetrical character. 
There are graces and virtues that must be reckoned 
as necessities in the new life. What of these ? We 
have thought of love as the central figure of the per- 
sonified Christian forces, but surrounded by a host 
of other fair forms. Perhaps we remember a pic- 
ture, "The Three Graces, " popular in former days, 
which gave us a vision of the sisters three who for- 
ever haunt the thirteenth chapter of First Corin- 
thians. The picture disclosed three beautiful female 
forms in flowing robes. In the center of the group 
of three, with a suggestion of queenly, protecting 
strength, stood Love. Upon the bosom of Love, in 
trustful pose and happy content, rested the head of 
Faith; while encircled by the arm of Love, Hope 
stood looking, with expectant eye, into the far dis- 
tance. The picture would further have suggested 
our thought of the forces of the Christian life, if 
there had stood in the background a great company, 
like a Greek chorus, each figure typical of some one 



182 The Higher Ritualism. 

Christian grace or virtue. There would have been 
modest Humility, smiling Cheerfulness, open-handed 
Generosity, kindly Sympathy, chaste Purity, mild- 
eyed Gentleness, broad-shouldered Patience, win- 
some Courtesy, upright Integrity, and a host of 
others with which Christianity has peopled our 
thought There are nearly as many of them as there 
are original elements in matter, or specific modes of 
motion in force. What of all these? The question 
IS an intensely practical one, when we remember 
that each and all of these graces and virtues must 
have place in our lives, making the Christian per- 
sonality a new OlympUS, where heavenly divinities 
have their home. The aspect of Christian character 

thus presented is one of confusion. There is an ab- 
sence of unity and simplicity in such a conception 

of the elements of character and the forces of life. 

The problem becomes ever m<»re personal and 

practical in the realization that we are cultivators of 
character; that the Christian ideal is perfection; and 
that .symmetry demands that no one of these ele- 
ments be lacking or dwarfed. ll\ our efforts to this 

end, we have laid out character after the similitude 

of the old-fashioned garden-plot, with which the 

experiences of childhood made many of us familiar. 
You remember how there were spaces devoted to 



Correlation o* Spiritual Por< 

each kiml of flower or vegetable — the peas lure, 
the com there, and the potatoes yonder. In Mich a 
way we seem at work cultivating our graces and 

virtues. We have love here, patience there, and 

humility yonder. We weed, dig, and water here, 

and then pass in our work to another part of our 
garden of character. But while we are busy culti- 
vating" one quality, the weeds seem to be choking 
others. This distressing lack of anything like unity 
and simplicity in our labor tends either to discour- 
age us or to render us satisfied with small things. 

This impediment has been recognized by many, 
and methods of relief have been proposed. The 
most notable attempt is probably that of the late 
Professor Henry Drummond, in his famous address, 
"The Greatest Thing in the World." In that ad- 
dress he treats Love as a compound, whose elements 
may be distinguished by analysis. In illustration of 
his thought, he likens Love to light. He says : 
"As you have seen a man of science take a beam of 
light and pass it through a crystal prism ; as you 
have seen it come out on the other side of the prism 
broken up into its component parts — red, and blue, 
and yellow, and violet, and orange, and all the colors 
of the rainbow — so Paul passes this thing, Love, 
through the magnificent prism of his inspired intel- 



184 The Higher Ritualism. 

lect, and it comes out on the other side broken up 
into its elements." This Professor Drummond calls 
"the Spectrum of Love, the analysis of Love." Of 
course, we can not accept such teaching either as 

psychology or theology. Love is not a compound 

made Up of a certain number of ingredients. It 
can not be produced by mixing other elements in 

due proportion. It is not to be compounded accord- 
ing tO a prescription furnished by the Apostle Paul 
or any one else. It is not a thing of shreds and 

pate! 

When the Master said that the law and the 
prophets were found in the injunctions, "Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God," and "Thou shall love 

thy neighbor as thyself/ 1 lie proclaimed the unity of 

in the religious life. When the great apostle 
declared. "Low is the fulfillment of the law," he 
stated the same principle in other words. Just as 
the physical force- are forms or manifestations of 
some one force, so are the forces of the Christian 
world. Love ia the promise and potency of each and 
all the graces and virtue-. Love has in it the latent 
energies of all the motive powers of Christian ac- 
tivity. Love pOfl Wich properties of converti- 
bility that, by its multiplied modes of manifestation, 
it can produce all graces and virtues. Each of these 



Correlation <>r Spiw ru w. For* 

benevolence, fidelity, courage, and all 
the others — can be reduced to some activity of Love. 

Just as the physical forces can be ideally reduced to 
forms of motion — as that we can say that sound is 
motion, light IS motion, heat is motion — so each ele- 
ment of Christian character is a specific manifesta- 
tion of Love. Thus Love, moving under various con- 
ditions, directed towards various objects, working 
towards various ends, discovers itself in various 
ways. We mark the specific manifestation, call it a 
Christian grace, and give it a distinguishing name. 
In other words, we have the correlation of spiritual 
forces, with Love as the initial force. 

This theory of the correlation of spiritual forces 
is not a novelty, except in statement and illustra- 
tion. Centuries before the scientists accepted the 
dogma of the persistence of force, the doctrine of 
the persistence of the supreme force of the Chris- 
tian life was enunciated by the Apostle Paul in the 
words, "Love never faileth." And in that same 
chapter we have a statement of the doctrine of the 
convertibility of this initial force. "Love suffereth 
long" — then it becomes patience and resignation. 
"Love is kind" — then it becomes kindness and sym- 
pathy. "Love envieth not" — then it becomes \ 
will and magnanimity. "Love vaunteth not itself, 



186 The Higher Ritualism. 

is not puffed up" — then it becomes modesty and 
humility. "Love doth not behave itself unseemly" 
— then it becomes civility and courtesy. "Love seek- 
eth not her own" — then it becomes service and sac- 
rifice. "Love is not easily provoked" — then it be- 
comes forbearance and long suffering. "Love be- 
lieveth all things" — then it becomes faith. "Love 
bopeth all things" — and hope is a method of Love's 

activity. Here in this marvelous exposition of 

apacities are found the constituent elements 

of Christian character; all the graces that adorn the 
life of the individual; and all the forces that are 
operating to bless humanity and honor God. Any 
element not mentioned specifically will fall under 
some one of the sweeping generalizations. 

Special notice is called to the fact that there is 

here no hint of love as a compound, produced by 
the bringing together of various ingredients. It is 

SCription of the activities of Love; an apocalypse 
of the powers of Love; a declaration of the trans- 

formability of I Love does all these things 

that sweeten and brighten and bless humanity. Just 
as electricity heats, moves, lights, and ho Love 

endures, sympathizes, sen is kind, 

benevolent, modest, and courteous. It is converti- 
ble into the vari< and virtues of the Chris- 



Correction o* Spiritual For< 187 

tian character This gives the religious life a unity 

and order analogous to that of the physical world. 

Here, then, is the open secret of the higher life; 

it lies in a loving heart. Out of the heart in which 

the love of God has been shed abroad, will he the 

issues of life. We are told that science, following 
a hint given by Young, now employs the terms en- 
ergy, usually held to be synonymous with force, to 
signify the power of doing work, in whatever that 
power may consist. That quiet, latent ability for 
doing something, such as lifting the hand or speak- 
ing a word, is called potential energy. We are 
familiar with the potential energy of the great res- 
ervoir of water, which is behind each little stream 
pushed into our houses when we turn a faucet. We 
can understand that when the old clock is wound 
once a week, energy is stored up from the arm of 
the one who performs the task, and the clock will 
go on ticking and telling the time until that energy 
IS exhausted. We are interested in the suggestion 
that if the capstone on one of the great pyramids 
were lowered to the ground, the energy expended 
by the forgotten slaves who lifted it to its place, 
would be released. But we are more interested to 
know that the human heart, charged with love, has 
in it all the potential energies of Christian life and 



188 Tut; Higher Ritualism. 

history, and as condition after condition, circum- 
stance after circumstance, contact after contact, duty 
after duty, call them forth, the result is a manifes- 
tation, known and named as a grace or virtue. And, 
remembering the Giver of the great gift, we can 

add: "And there arc diversities of operations, but 
the same God that worketh all in all." 



NOV 7 1904 



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